All the Stars
by WonderfullyStrange801
Summary: Lily, Ash and Mira are three radically different sisters. But they've got one thing in common- hunting. Used to working on their own, the girls have to learn to deal with new circumstances  and emotions  when they join a new team.  DeanOC SamOC CasOC R&R!
1. One Lily

**Hi :) Just before you start reading, here's a few things you should know: First, this is a collab fic, with RainbowTurkeyofDoom. Second, it IS pretty cheesy but there is a definite plot, so don't expect ALL cheese. It's SamOC DeanOC and CastielOC, and the story takes place from the beginning of Season 2 until... we don't know yet. **

**Oh, and one more thing; Obviously, people who read the fanfiction before the new format will probably be confused with the new, well, format. We split up the chapters into two because they were really long. So Chapter 1 that was all Lily POV is now also Chapter 2, and Ash is Chapter 3/4, Mira 5/6 etc etc. Sorry for any confusion!**

1. Lily

"I hate demons." My sister muttered, and I had to agree with her.

Demons were probably our least favourite creatures to deal with. Spirits were easy. Even the malicious ones, once you got used to them. But there was really no getting used to demons, no matter how many of the damn things you faced. And we'd faced our fair share. Sometimes, killing them was worse than tracking them, and _that's _usually the hard part.

We'd just finished a full on exorcism. My sister, Ash, closed her book with a thud, and slumped against the wall behind her, looking drained. My eyes dragged from her, to my other sister, Mira, who was crouched beside the crumpled body on the floor, checking for vital signs.

"He's alive." Mira announced, looking up at Ash and I with a solemn expression. "But only just barely."

Even still, it meant a successful exorcism.

"Oh yeah!" Ash pumped her fist in the air, always the enthusiastic one no matter what the occasion. "Who'sawesome?"

After a moment, her arm fell back down to her side in a tired motion, and then she slid down the length of the wall, sitting on the floor with a sigh. I smiled, and moved to sit beside her. You could never be picky about where exorcisms take place, and we'd been lucky to find this old warehouse. Still, it had been a close one, and my heart was still racing, even though it was already over and done with. Beside me, Ash's chest heaved and her eyes drooped. She was clearly exhausted, as was I .I'd been the bait for the demon, having to lead it underneath the seal, and it hadn't gone very nicely.

People always put up a struggle when they're being attacked. I've seen it happen dozens of times. But a demon struggling is its own kind of hell. If I had been trying to do the exorcism on my own, like I had planned to do once we tracked down the demon, I would have been dead the moment I lead it into the warehouse. Anyone who knew me was well aware that I wasn't the best fighter. And as soon as that demon pounced, landing with his legs wrapped around my torso and throwing wild punches in my face, I was completely helpless. It was a damn good thing I had Ash and Mira there.

As soon as it started catching me in the jaw over and over again, like a broken record player, Mira and Ash appeared from their hiding spots, each grabbing a hold of the demon's arms and throwing him back a few steps, right underneath the seal where he was trapped.

"Man," I breathed now, tucking my legs underneath me and looking around the room. "Hunting sure is a dangerous job…"

Beside me, Ash chuckled. "That's why I chose it."

I watched as Mira helped the man to his feet, someone's whose name was escaping me. That didn't matter. What mattered was that his body was no longer the shell for some demon; he was his own person again. With wild eyes darting between me and Ash, he stumbled across the length of the warehouse, blood dripping from his nose. "W-where am I?" he asked, his voice trembling. He raised a finger, and pointed in the general direction of where Ash we were still resting. "Who are you?"

"Get him out of here, Mira." Ash mumbled, tracing her hand along the spine of her book. "Now."

Mira nodded once, and tightened her grip on the man, still looking at us with a mixture of shock and confusion. When they were out the door, I tipped my head against the wall behind me and closed my eyes, feeling exhaustion weighing my limbs down like fifty pound weights.

Hunting. That was our job. And no, not bears.

The three of us, Mira, Ash and myself, met through a common bond; our passion for hunting the supernatural. We weren't actually sisters. That's what we called each other, since we were the closest family any of us had. We each had our own reasons for hunting, ones that made us even closer than real sisters. In the last three years we'd been working together, I'd learned everything there needed to be known about Mira and Ash; their strengths, their weaknesses, what made them start hunting in the first place. Our stories weren't the happiest, but they were what made us such great hunters.

"He's pretty shaken up." Mira came back into the warehouse, and sat down beside me. "I had to start his car for him; poor guy dropped his keys four times."

Ash snorted. "I wouldn't blame him. How long was that demon in his body?"

"Eight months." I said, cringing at the mere thought of it. "I think that's a record."

We listened to the sound of a car engine outside, idling on the shoulder of the road in front of the warehouse. After listening for a few minutes, and not hearing any signs of it leaving, I sat up slightly, narrowing my eyes. "Mira, what car was that guy driving?"

"A Volvo, I think." She frowned at me. "Why?"

I held up my hand, silencing her.

Ash touched my leg. "Lily? What's wrong?"

Something didn't sound right. A Volvo's engine never made that sound. It was too deep, too thunderous. No, something else was sitting outside the warehouse. And it only took a few seconds for Ash and Mira to realize it as well. We all rose from the ground at the same time, each of us reaching for our own weapon. My heart began thudding against my ribcage, as it usually did whenever I was about to fight. Ash always had an adrenaline rush going, making her the best fighter out of the three of us. I knew Mira was never scared, although she wasn't the quickest to use a shot gun on anyone or anything.

I wasn't scared either. If I got scared _that _easily, I would have been dead three years ago. No, this wasn't freight of any sort. This was excitement. Even though my shy demeanour didn't show it, I found a certain thrill in finishing off a supernatural creature. About a month ago, before we started tracking the demon, I killed a shape shifter just outside of Virginia. I hadn't even blinked when I shot that silver bullet straight through its heart. And sometimes, that scared me more than any creature could.

Ash had a hold of the dagger she kept on her person, the blade being about six inches long. Our eyes met, and she nodded towards the door, suggesting we go check it out for ourselves. After grabbing my revolver, holding it close to my body, I nodded back, and we headed that way.

Mira generally kept to the rear of Ash and I. Like I said, she sometimes hesitated when it came to killing, even if it was a supernatural creature. We couldn't risk her panicking at the front and getting herself killed. Safely tucked away behind us, she whispered, "Do you think it's another demon, or maybe even the same one?"

Ash shook her head, eyes focused on the doors we were approaching cautiously. "I don't think so."

I hoped she was right. The book with the exorcism steps was back at the far end of the warehouse, out of our reach. And I didn't think we would be able to lure another demon under the seal, especially since we didn't have any sort of plan going for what we were about to face.

Small bits of moonlight peeked through cracks in the doors, illuminating our faces when we stopped in front of them. I took a deep breath, and reached out one hand, gripping the closest door handle to me. It was cool against my skin, sending a slight shiver down my spine. "One…" I whispered softly, readying my gun in my other hand, "two…" I heard Ash's breathing becoming heavier as her adrenaline rush kicked in. soon she would shove me out of the way and do the job herself, so I had to be quick. "_Three!"_

I threw open the door and took two steps back, raising my gun in front of my face. Something terribly bright (headlights, I guessed) blinded the three us. Mira gasped and nudged me forwards slightly, urging me to kill whatever was out there already. It wasn't like me not to. Hell, I probably would have fired three shots already if it weren't for the second gasp I heard, this one coming from the left of me; Ash.

"Lily," she breathed, lowering her dagger and squinting into the light. "Look."

I wasn't so quick to lower my gun, but I obliged to the latter, peering outside the doors. After my eyes adjusted slightly to the light, I was able to see the fog picking up around our ankles, as well as two dark shapes breaking through it. I don't know what stunned the three of us so much, since human beings certainly weren't foreign to us. But there was something about these two people, people who remained dark figures that made my eyes widen and gun lower slightly.

That was my first mistake.


	2. Two Lily

2. Lily

"Drop the weapons!" a deep, thick voice roared from one of the shapes. "Drop 'em!"

None of us made a move to do so. In fact, all we did was raise our weapons even higher.

"I said drop them!" the voice repeated, sounding annoyed.

My finger brushed against the trigger of my gun, and my heart picked up even fasted, now loud enough for all to hear. Beside me, Ash took one step forward, and that was when the sound of a shot gun being cocked rang out through the blinding light.

They had weapons, too.

I didn't know what we were facing. Maybe more demons, things that wouldn't be harmed whatsoever with rock salt, or a dagger. That sort of unknown scared me. I was alright if I knew what I was up against, but as soon as we were blind-sided by a couple of creatures we weren't prepared for, that was when the sweat started gathering in the small of my back.

"Lily," Mira whispered from somewhere behind me, "Shoot them."

I turned my face slightly, my gaze never wavering from the…_things _before us. "I don't know that they are. I might just piss them off. And then what?"

Ash nudged me, and my head spun right back around again just in time to see the figures finally breaking through the fog, each person blocking a headlight so we could finally see them. They were…men. Two grown men, about our age, holding shot guns pointed directly at us. For a moment, I just stared, not out of fear, but shock. In all the years we'd been hunting, human interaction didn't occur very often. Most of the time, our conversations consisted of Latin prayers or curses or… Well, you get the picture. That being so, it was only a matter of time until our female nature kicked in again.

That's right. I fell shy to their good looks.

It was wrong of me. I should have kept completely professional and blown their heads onto the pavement. But I didn't. In fact, in my moment of weakness, my gun slipped from my hand completely, skittering onto the floor at my feet. I didn't even flinch. My eyes remained on the two men.

One was taller than the other, with thick brown hair that curled slightly behind his ears, and a high forehead that accented his sharp features. The second man was the sort of guy you expected to see wearing a letterman's jacket in high school, chasing the cheerleader's skirts and drinking till the sun went down. He had a dark, smoldering look to him, shadows crossing his handsome face every few seconds. His squared jaw twitched, muscles jumping in it as he glowered at us. I took one last quick survey of him (from his clean cut hair to the dusty leather jacket he wore) and then I made a move to pick up my gun.

"Don't even think about it." The second man pointed his gun directly at my chest, and I straightened up again, feeling ashamed for ever lowering my barrier. A snarl came from Ash's clenched teeth, and he just smiled. "Yeah, getting busted sucks, doesn't it?"

She remained silent, glaring as sharply as her dagger, still gripped tightly in her hand.

Armed with one revolver and a dagger against two shotguns, I knew we were beat. Whatever these two men were, they had us cornered. It took a lot of effort, but I finally managed to raise my arms above my head, a sign of surrender. Ash turned her harsh glare onto me.

"Lily!"

I blushed when the second man's eyes locked mine at the sound of my name. "Put down your dagger, Ash."

"No!"

"Do it."

"We don't know what these things are, Lil. We can't risk it."

I heard something behind us; Mira had dropped her gun, sliding it over to where mine lay. Ash saw this, and tipped her head back, letting out an annoyed sigh. "Fine." She muttered, and then crouched down slowly, placing her dagger with our revolvers. I forced myself to continue looking at the two men, even though it was becoming extremely difficult. The second kept smirking, and I kept blushing. What was going on?

"Now why don't you pretty ladies turn around nice and slow, and head that way." He gestured to the opposite end of the warehouse with the barrel of his shot gun, still grinning.

The man with him didn't say anything, but his gaze was challenging us to defy him.

I knew Ash hated it, but she listened to them anyway, leading the way to the specified wall. I followed close behind her, putting my lips to her ear as we walked. "What now?" Mira came up beside me, having heard the question, and was eager to hear the response as well.

Something in Ash's eyes flickered, something I couldn't read. "Nothing." She said, refusing to look at either of us. "We do as they say and hope they don't shoot."

We put our faces against the wall and I felt the two men's eyes on my back, surveying the three of us. My heart quickened, and I forced myself not to be self-conscious, not now; I had to stay focused. Mira sounded nervous, standing to my left. Her nose was pressed right against the wall, and her eyes were closed, breathing in and out in shallow gasps. She wasn't this nervous with a gun in her hand, but I knew being weaponless made her a whole lot worse. It made us all worse. Well, except for Ash. It just made her angrier. She began cussing under her breath, fidgeting on the spot. She never liked being caught like this, and I knew she was doing her best to stay calm. It wouldn't last very long.

I tried thinking about who these two men could be. There was a very strong possibility that they were demons, but then why would they bring shotguns? Their strength alone would have been enough to disarm us. They could have been shape shifters, although it was highly unlikely, since they weren't known to travel in pairs. So what were they then? Could they really just be humans?

My pondering thoughts ceased when I realized they were murmuring behind me, and I strained my neck to try and listen in. They seemed to be talking about the same thing I had just been thinking about, and they sounded equally confused. It was comforting to know I wasn't the only one puzzled by this situation.

"…would have done something by now!" the second man hissed, obviously wondering why the three of us haven't retaliated yet.

I glanced at Mira out of the corner of my eye, seeing that she had opened her own and was now looking uneasily over her shoulder at the men behind us. I'm sure she was considering what they were, like I had been two minutes before. She seemed confused as well, her eye brows pushing together and mouth opening and closing, trying to piece together some sort of creature that fit the two.

Ash, on the other hand, looked to be devising a plan out of there. She kept looking between the doors that had long since been closed (although there was still the audible noise of AC/DC playing from the car we'd heard earlier), and then to the men guarding us, calculating the distance between the two. It obviously wasn't adding up, because she cussed, and then let her forehead bang against the wall in front of her furiously.

Behind us, the man with the gruff voice was speaking again. "Look Sam, there's only one way to know for sure,"

I felt something splash against my back.

"Okay, well they aren't demons."

Ash spun around at that. "No duh. We're hunters, like I'm guessing you are."

When there was no sound of gunshots, I figured it was safe to turn around as well. The bottle of holy water was still gripped in the second man's hand, stretched out like he was going to toss it as Ash again before remembering it wasn't going to do anything. Slowly, he lowered it, looking amused.

"Hunters, huh? You three girls? What are you, eighteen, nineteen?"

Hunters… _of course _they were hunters! I breathed a sigh of relief. As well as being glad we weren't in danger (hunters never hurt other hunters; it was practically an unspoken word among us) I was slightly curious towards these two men. It wasn't often to run into other hunters during a hunt. We seemed to steer clear of them pretty well.

I heard him step closer towards us, and I fidgeted nervously, my curiosity wearing slightly.

Ash rolled her eyes, clearly offended. "We're twenty-four." She lifted a foot, and the two shot guns before us were suddenly raised again. Her foot hovered. "Look, would you guys drop the guns for a second? That book over there in the corner is our exorcism book. Go check it out if you don't believe us."

The man, who had earlier been called Sam, looked to the other, who nodded once, before heading off the direction Ash had pointed out. While he was gone, I kept my eyes on the remaining man's gun. I'd never been on the other side of one, and I had to admit, it was scaring the hell out of me.

"Yeah, she's right." Sam's voice came from the other side of the warehouse. "There's a book here, as well as some weapons and a demon holding seal. Looks like they're the real deal, Dean."

He shuffled back to where his partner, "Dean", remained standing. I could see that he was holding Ash's book, flipping through the pages with narrowed eyes. He looked up as he reached us. "It's pretty worn out. You guys done a lot of these exorcisms?"

"Yeah." Mira answered, nodding. "More than we'd like to."

Dean looked quickly at the book, and then he returned his attention to us. He grinned. "Well, I guess you girls really are hunters."

I caught his gaze and felt my retort sticking in my throat. There was something about the way he looked at me, almost like he was looking right through me, that made my knees feel like jelly. It was so intense, so warm that I felt a blush spreading like a wild fire across my cheeks and averted my gaze, feeling like I was in high school again.

I cleared my throat, and forced a smile. An awkward pause followed.

After a moment, Dean lowered his weapon. Ash's shoulders noticeably loosened, although I knew she hadn't dropped her guard whatsoever. She was just slightly less unnerved from the gun being pointed at her. Sam saw this as his chance, (she looked reasonably nice when she wasn't so tense) and handed back her book. She snatched it away from him with a dark look and taught jaw.

"So you took care of the demon then, right?" Sam asked, looking away from Ash to Mira and I. "You look pretty roughed up."

I nodded, and then stopped, my eyes widening slightly. "Roughed up?"

That was when I _really _looked at Mira, Ash and I. I could see what Sam meant then. We looked pretty dishevelled- our hair was messy, our clothes torn with scratches and bruises on our skin. I lifted a hand to my face, touching my tender nose and feeling dried blood already gathering there. Great. So we all looked like crap. Well, they should know as well as us, that hunting is far from being glamorous.

"That demon really did a number on you." Dean observed, stepping even closer to me as he peered at my face.

I took an automatic step back. "Yeah well it put up a pretty good fight."

"I can see that."

I began combing through my knotted, _very _dirty blond hair with my fingers, struggling to keep a calm composure. All I really wanted to do was find a mirror and make sure I didn't look like the walking dead. Maybe that was why it took so long for them to trust us; we probably looked supernatural.

"We took care of the demon, yeah." Mira said, answering Sam's previous question. "We just finished the exorcism when you guys came in."

Dean showed no signs of being impressed. He just stared at me. "Hmm. Nice work."

"Damn right it was." Ash said, pushing her way past Sam and Dean to pick up her knife. For a moment, the men tensed up. All she did was put it back into her belt loop however, and they relaxed.

"I'm Mira, this is Lily and Ash," She said, and she reached out a hand to shake. The two shook it cautiously, and Ash and I offered up our own.

"I'm Dean, this is my brother Sam.." He had a suspicious look in his eyes as he took my hand, like he still didn't trust we were human. He had a strong, warm grip and I felt a bit flushed as he squeezed my hand, before letting it go.

"You probably passed the vessel on the way out, he just left." Mira said, and Sam looked at her.

"He made it out alive then?"

Mira nodded.

"Okay, good."

Another awkward silence fell between the five of us, this one thicker than before. Dean was still watching me, one eye brow raised, and it was really starting to make me uncomfortable. No longer was it because of his looks, though. I was all but over that. No, this time it was the way he was watching me. He was waiting for me to whip out another gun and take care of him and Sam. I just hoped he wasn't thinking this exactly, or he may want to try and beat me at my own game.

"Well," Dean said after a moment, turning on his heels towards Ash. "What kind of exorcism did you do?" He reached out one hand, snatching up the book from her protective grip.

Ash was quick to get it back again. "Hey!" she smacked him over the head with it. He should have figured she was protective of her things. Obviously this Dean fellow didn't have the best judge of character.

"Jesus!" he glared at her darkly and raised a hand to his head, rubbing it with a slight cringe. "Psycho-bitch."

Ash said nothing, crossing her arms over her chest in a defensive manor.

"Well," Dean looked past her at me, smirking despite the fact he was still rubbing his head, and the smirk seemed to falter at the corners. "I guess that's all there is to it. Might as well head back to the hotel and pack up our stuff, get going to the next job." He nodded at me once, and then turned his gaze onto Ash. His smile fell into a hard line on his face, deciding against saying anything to her. With one last quick nod at Mira, he turned to leave.

"Hotel?" I repeated, picking this out of the sentence he had just said. It sounded so foreign to me.

"Yeah, you know; where you crash when you're on the road?" when I blushed sheepishly, Dean's amused look fell into that of doubt. "What, do you girls sleep in your car?" We nodded.

The three of us shared a large black van, which was surprisingly roomy on the inside. Even still, it didn't leave us with a good night's rest. We didn't have mattresses, so we piled our clothes underneath us rather than sleeping on the hard van floor. We hadn't enough money to go to different hotel rooms. Hell, we barely had enough for food. Hunting wasn't exactly a profitable business.

"Seriously?" Dean's eyes widened, eye brows raised high on his face.

"Yeah, unlike some people we don't exactly have the money to go around in fancy cars with ACDC blasting so loudly every demon in a sixty mile radius could hear." Ash shot at them. I gave her a look telling her to ease up. She was clearly still pissed they'd gotten the upper hand.

Dean stared at her, but spoke to me. "Is she always like this?"

"It's been a long day." I amended, for Ash's sake. I didn't want to just out-right tell them that yes, this was her normal self.

Ash huffed and turned away from Sam and Dean. I knew somewhere in there she was feeling guilty for being so abrasive towards them. Believe it or not, everyone has a soft side, and Ash's showed every so often. Dean watched her with raised eye brows, and then cleared his throat.

"Anyway, in case you get tired of sleeping in the Mystery-Machine, there's a hotel about five miles from here. It's cheap, but decent."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, reaching into the pocket of his beige coat, and passing Mira a piece of paper. "Here's my cell number in case you need to call."

Mira took it from him, mumbled thanks, and stuffed it into her own pocket, looking away anxiously. I felt sorry for her. She couldn't help the mistrust she had towards people, not after what happened to her family. I was glad to see Sam wasn't faltered the least by her nervous actions. He just smiled, and looked at Dean who had been staring at him the entire time. "What?"

"You gave her your number?" Dean asked, and Sam tipped his head back, sighing. "Well don't try _too _hard."

"Shut up. It's in case of an emergency."

One of Dean's eye brows cocked. "What's your definition of 'emergency'?"

Before they could bicker any further, I interrupted them with a sheet of our own numbers, which shut Dean up right away. He took the paper and gave it a quick once-over, nodding to himself as if confirming they were legitimate numbers. Looks like Mira isn't the only one with trust issues.

He pocketed the paper, and then looked to Sam, letting out an annoyed breath. "All that work tracking the damn thing and we didn't even get to kill it. Come on, Sammy, let's get out of her." He reached out a hand and smacked it against the left breast of Sam's jacket. Then he set that piercing gaze on me again. "Oh, and if you're in need for some money, credit card scams are handy."

"I thought you were leaving." Ash muttered from somewhere behind me. Dean's eyes never wavered from mine.

"Right. See you girls later."

Dean winked, and I nodded too quickly. Sam followed him out the doors of the warehouse, each letting their shotguns drag across the wooden floors. They were obviously tired as well. I wondered how long they had been tracking the demon, only for us to get to it first.

I waited until I heard the thunderous engine and AC/DC music fade away into the night before letting out the breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. Behind me, Ash bid them "good riddance" and then dropped to her knees, cleaning up the mess we had made.

"How embarrassing." She blew her dark bangs out of her eyes as she shoved our guns and the exorcism book into the duffle bag we kept with us at all times. "I can't believe we got cornered by those two…two…"

"Attractive men?" Mira offered, and we both laughed, although Ash gave us dark scowls.

"Please, they weren't attractive. Besides, they could have been Gods and I still wouldn't like them." She stood up from the floor, zipping up the duffel bag and then slinging it over her shoulder, all in one swift motion. Mira and I remained where we were, staring at her. Sometimes she could be so cynical about everything.

"You didn't like them because they backed you into a corner." I pointed out. "You'd be best friends with Dean if you met under different circumstances." I could see a lot of similarities between the two.

She shrugged my comment off. "Whatever. What's done is done. They're gone, and so are we."

We parted from the empty warehouse, heading towards our blank van, still parked on the shoulder of the road where we had left it. I opened the back doors, and sighed slightly at the sight of the make-do mattress laying on the ground inside. While I stood there, Dean's words rang in my head.

Ash came up beside me, tossing the duffel bag not-so-gently into the back of the van, letting it hit the sides with a loud metallic sound. That would be the guns, probably still cocked. I didn't let my mind wander though. I was still wondering about what Dean had said. "Hey Ash," I said, and she gave me a curious look. "What do you know about credit card fraud?"


	3. Three Ash

3. Ash

"I take back what I said about those guys." I fell onto the closest bed, feeling every stiff muscle in my back pinch, and then gradually relax. "They're not half bad."

I'd been reluctant at first when Lily suggested we follow Dean's suggestion and began our own little credit card scam. But about a dozen fake badges and credit cards later, I was loosening up. As badass as I may seem, I'm not all for breaking the law. There are just some points in person's life that demands it. In my case, that point occurred when I got sick of sleeping in the back of a van for three years and wanted an actual bed. "_Melinda McArthur_" and her credit card were happy to oblige. I wasn't thrilled with my new name, but if that's what it took for a hotel room… I'd be anything.

Lily set down our duffel bag at the foot of the other single bed, giving me a suspicious frown. "What's with the change of heart, Ash?"

"Yeah." Mira came up beside her, and crossed her arms over her chest. "A month ago you couldn't stand them and now you like them."

I lifted myself from the oh-so comfortable bed I'd been laying on, giving them each a dark look. I never liked it when they ganged up on me like that, even if it was over something simple. "Would you guys quit looking at me like I'm possessed? G'head, toss holy water on me. I'm perfectly fine. It's just that I was thinking about them, and they're decent guys. I'm not so crazy about that Dean, but Sam seems nice. I just figured I should give them the benefit of the doubt and trust them." Plus, I added in my head, without them, we would have never figured out to scam for hotel rooms. I just didn't want to admit that, since it had been Dean's idea.

Both of my sisters still looked unsure. "I'm serious." I insisted, and when their looks remained dubious, I changed the subject. "So, what are we looking at for our next case?"

I was relieved when Lily looked away, picking up a newspaper she'd been reading in the van on the way to the hotel and holding it out to me. "A killer clown."

I'd been squinting at the article, and startled at her words. "You're shitting me."

"No. This is real."

I sighed tiredly. Great.

"What do you think it is?" Mira asked, taking the paper from my hands to read the article herself. "A spirit? Something else?"

I thought about what the paper had said; two different families murdered, both kids surviving and telling police it had been a clown that killed their parents, but had disappeared shortly afterwards. "What do we know that can vanish, or become invisible?" I asked, thinking out loud with eyes set on the wall in front of me, trying to focus my mind. "Something that likes children?"

"Brownies can be invisible." Mira said, raising her eye brows.

Lily shook her head. "But they aren't malicious, _or _clowns."

"Good point. Maybe some sort of demon?"

"Without a vessel, no."

"Some sort of Pagan God?"

Lily shrugged, still seeming unsure. "Maybe, could fit the MO too. But I don't know of any Pagan Gods that can turn invisible."

Mira, who had been flipping through her book and spitting out suggestions, stopped on a page and looked up. "What about a Rakshasa?" When I frowned, unfamiliar with the term, she handed me the book, and I skimmed the paragraph, reading about the cannibalistic shape shifting illusionist Hindu demon. I smirked a bit.

"Looks like that's it. Cool, I've never killed one of those before. How do you kill it?"

At this, Lily reached for her laptop and opened it to the wondrous Google. Thank _God _for internet. She began typing, and then stopped, reading the contents of the screen aloud. "Most normal weapons are useless. Either a crossbow blessed by a priest-"

"Great." I muttered, imagining how _simple _it would be to get that.

"…Or a dagger of pure brass."

I looked at Lily, and then Mira, and then down at our duffel bag, my eye brows pushing together. "Do we have one of those?" We were always getting new weapons, and it wouldn't be the first time I overlooked one. Despite this, Lily shook her head.

"No."

"Crap." My own knife was pure silver, which was usually useful unlike on this occasion, when it was completely useless.

"But," Lily added, looking at me and giving a dismissive shrug of her shoulders. "We have a crossbow."

* * *

><p>The church was a few miles down from the hotel we were staying at, standing between an old folk's home and a cemetery. I was the only one who found this ironic; Lily and Mira told me to have some respect for the dead. They were obviously forgetting what we did for a living.<p>

"I can't believe we're doing this." I muttered as we walked up the cement steps, tugging at the dress I'd been ordered to wear. They wanted me to look presentable for the Priest, which I suppose made sense, although I'd much rather be in jeans and an old tee-shirt. This guy better bless our crossbow or I swear…

The doors to the church were about eight feet tall and a nuisance to try and open. They were heavy as hell. It took the three of us just to crack one, and even then, it almost took out my leg with Mira began to struggle under the weight of it and let it slip. "Sorry!" she gasped as I jumped backwards, narrowly missing being known as "I-Hop" for the rest of my life.

"I used to wonder why these were always open for church." Lily murmured thoughtfully, ignoring what had just occurred. "I guess it's because otherwise, they'd squish the poor people trying to get inside."

Shooting her a dirty look, I pushed my way inside, avoiding hesitating too long between the door and it's frame just in case Mira slipped up again. I tended to forgot just how large churches were until I was standing right inside of one, every step echoing above us in the tall ceiling. In front of us, rows and rows of pews lead to the front of the church, each and every one of them filled with old folks. They'd all turned around to see who was coming into church late.

"You've got to be kidding me." I moaned, when Lily and Mira joined me and my side. "We have to stay for mass?"

The people sitting closest to us shushed me.

"Yeah." Lily whispered, and she led Mira and I to an empty pew, ignoring the disapproving stares we were receiving.

The last time I had ever been in mass was when I was seven, and my grandparents made me go to hear my cousin sing in the choir. I don't remember much about the actual ceremony, but I could clearly recall how mad my grandparents got when I made pirate hats out of the hymn book pages and refused to kneel when the time came.

This mass wasn't any more exciting than the other, but I made sure to act proper as to not draw any more attention to us. We were lucky than no one questioned the duffel bag Lily had slung over her shoulder, bulging at certain points with the crossbow buried deep inside. I wasn't sure how they would react if they saw it, but I knew the Priest would be quite reluctant to bless it.

When the mass was over, and people were gradually hobbling out the church doors, Lily, Mira and I stood up from our pew, and made our way to the alter. The Priest was finishing putting away the offering dishes in an orderly fashion, his back to us.

"Hello, Father." Mira said, and he turned around, looking pleasantly surprised to be approached. "I'm Mira, and these are my sisters Lillian and Ashley." I gritted my teeth when she said my full name, but forced a smile when the Priest's gaze fell onto me. He shook each of our hands, and then drew back, waiting for us to explain our visit. Thankfully, Mira was already explaining before I could figure out how to word our request in my head. I couldn't exactly come right out and ask him to bless our crossbow.

"We found your mass to be a joy, and very enlightening." She purred, using her odd sense of gentle persuasion on the young Priest. Something about Mira made everybody melt. It could have been her sickly sweet smile she always had ready to use, or the honey-smooth voice she used. Whatever it was, people found her to be absolutely adorable. I couldn't imagine how she could live with a reputation like that. Her warm eyes showed no holes in her story. Or maybe, she actually did enjoy the mass and there was no need for lying. I snorted a bit. Lily shot me a glare, and then I coughed into my hand, covering it up.

"Anyway," Lily continued for Mira, "We were wondering if you could do us a favour."

The Priest clasped his hands together, smiling warmly at the three young ladies in front of him. "Sure. I'd be happy to."

I don't know if it was because of how willing he looked, or because I was just so eager to see how he was going to react. But before Lily could explain the favour further, gradually easing him in, I'd unzipped the duffel bag and pulled out the crossbow, showing it to the Priest.

He jumped back a few feet, falling against the alter and knocking over a bible that had been propped up. He ignored the thud it made, staring at what I held in my hands all too eagerly. His eyes were the size of saucers, and I fought the smile that forced its way onto my lips, trying to remain serious.

"Ashley here goes hunting a lot." Lily continued, motioning briefly at me. "she's got a big competition coming up, and she'd really appreciate your blessing."

Still reeling from the shock of the crossbow, the Priest swallowed loudly, and gave me a stern glance. "All creatures are the living art of God; every last one of them."

"Not our game." I muttered, receiving an elbow to the ribs from Lily. Ignoring me, the Priest continued.

"I don't think I should condone the killing of any living creature, especially not with such an old, barbaric weapon of choice."

I cleared my throat and tugged of my dress again, the stupid floral pattern thing, and stepped forward. ""Father, with all due respect, I would think that if God didn't want me to hunt, his blessing on the crossbow would alter my shot for the worse. So can you just bless the damn thing and let him do the talking?" He stared at me, looking appalled, but then to our surprise, sighed, and lifted out one hand, pressing it against the bone of the crossbow. He murmured quietly under his breath, crossed himself, and then pulled his hand back again.

"May all of your shots veer to the left."

The smile I wore was genuine this time. "We'll see. Thank you."


	4. Four Ash

4. Ash

Back in the van, I sat squished between Mira and Lily, balancing the crossbow on my lap. I never felt comfortable when Lily drove, because she was just so careful that it seemed an accident would occur, just as some sort of sick twist of fate. She kept her hands (knuckles protruding and ghostly white) firmly gripped, ten and two, as well as her eyes focused on the road.

Mira had a road map spread out on the dashboard in front of her, squinting at the red and blue lines that swam across the page. As we neared an intersection, she suddenly jabbed her finger into the map, saying, "Let's stop here." I leaned in to look at where she was pointing.

"What's that?"

"It's the Harvelle's roadhouse, Ash, don't you remember? We've been there before."

I racked my mind for a moment, trying desperately to remember. It only took a moment before I did. "Oh! Ellen and Jo, right?" when Mira nodded, I nodded as well, understanding why she had suggested their bar. "It's not too far from where we're going. Maybe they'll know something."

Lily was reluctant to park in the parking lot (I knew she was still shaky on getting too close to other cars) so we ended up parking our big black '68 Chevy van into a grassy spot near the old bar and stumbled out. I left the crossbow in the back of the van, and then made sure my knife was secure in my waistband, having changed out of the stupid dress once we were in the van. I pulled on the door handles twice before following Mira and Lily into the bar, checking to see if they were securely locked. They called my precautions paranoid, I call them safe.

As we pushed open the doors, we were met with an interesting sight.

"Hey Ellen, Jo, Ash the second. We-" I broke off mid-sentence, staring at the three of them, and then the two other men lounging at the bar with cold beers balanced in their hands.

Dean looked surprised to see us too. "No way."

The three of us remained in the doorway of the darken bar, unable to move. I wasn't sure how to react with this surprise meeting, seeing how the last time I had seen those two, they'd backed me into a corner like some sort of wild animal they were trying to catch. My first instinct was to say something rude, to let them know just because they got me cornered before; I wasn't one to go soft instantly. But something about seeing them there made me speechless. Maybe this wasn't a coincidence. I decided to keep a calm composure, for their sake.

"Dean. Sam." I acknowledged them evenly with a cut nod.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mira give them a slight wave. But Lily was avoiding them all together (especially Dean, who sat closest to her), turning her face up at the decorations that were on the walls of the bar. I frowned at her, but then quickly composed myself as Ellen came out from the back, carrying a 24 pack.

"You guys know each other?"

Sam took a small pull of his beer, and then nodded, setting it back down on the bar. "We met on a different case about a month ago."

"Couldn't stay away, huh?" Dean smirked at Lily, and her cheeks flamed a bright red.

I bit my tongue from adding my own sarcastic quip, because I was sincerely tired of Dean's remarks flustering my sister. All the same, that was not why we were there. "We're investigating a case about a killer clown." I informed them with a slight smug edge to my voice. While they were hanging round in bars, we were actually working to rid the world of the supernatural. Point us.

Sam and Dean exchanged knowing glances. I faltered instantly.

"Don't tell me…"

Dean laughed, giving me a cocky grin. "Yeah, you're a bit too late. We just finished him off a few hours ago."

Feeling exhausted, I dropped into the barstool on the other side of dean, dropping my head into my folded arms. "Great. So we just got that crossbow blessed for absolutely no reason. You guys are fantastic." I felt Ellen place a cold beer in front of me, and I took a large drink of it, drowning my anger.

"Now you know how we felt." Dean muttered.

I ignored him, and turned slightly on my stool, spotting Lily and Mira still lingering in the door way. I raised my eye brows, and then nodded at the two stools between Dean and Sam, not wanting to be the only one sitting. Mira obliged, slipping into the stool beside Sam with a nervous smile at him, but Lily remained where she was, fidgeting on the spot. I try to signal her again, but she shook her head quickly, and instead leaned against the wall, refusing to move.

"Come on, Lily." Dean said, and I watched as her cheeks turned an even darker shade of red at the sound of her name. He patted the vacant stool beside him, clearly enjoying the way he was embarrassing her. "I don't bite. Unless you want me to."

I reached out at slapped his shoulder, my palm making a satisfying noise as it made contact with his jacket. "Would you shut up?"

"I'm trying to be a gentleman."

"Does she look like she wants your company?"

Dean's mouth opened, and then snapped shut again, sort of like a fish. Good; I shut him up. For now.

Ellen continued serving the drinks while we sat there, each one of us trying to regain some strength before heading back out on the road again. I kept looking over at Mira and Sam, who were avoiding each other's gazes studiously. I knew how nervous Mira was towards other people; hell, I'd seen her flip out when a man got too close at the grocery store once. But this time, I couldn't help but stare. Did they not notice how similar they were to each other? Sam seemed just as nervous and awkward towards her as she was to him.

"Want another?" Ellen asked, coming up in front of me from behind the bar with a beer in her hands.

I consulted what I had in front of me (three empty bottles) and then took a moment to see how I felt. I wasn't feeling any sort of beer buzz yet, but those things can sneak up on a person. "I probably shouldn't."

"Go ahead, Ash." Lily spoke up from behind me, still at her place against the wall. "I'll drive."

Dean looked over his shoulder at her, grinning. "You're the designated driver? That's no fun. Come on, have a beer."

When I looked as well, Lily was avoiding his eyes, shaking her head quickly. "No, I can't." Even when she wasn't D.D, Lily didn't drink. In all the three years we'd been hunting together, she was always the one offering up to drive, and Mira and I generally didn't ask questions. Whatever, right? It's her loss.

"Lily doesn't drink." I informed Dean, and his eyes widened dramatically.

"Never?"

"Nope."

Gripping one hand on the bar, he swung his stool all the way around, now fully facing a surprised Lily. "A pretty girl like you doesn't drink?" slowly, she shook her head; right, left, center. Dean's grin widened. "Well then you gotta try it, just once! Come on, it'll be fun!"

"No thank you." Lily murmured quietly.

Dean looked like he was about to speak again, but I interjected before he could.

"Save your breath; she's not going to budge."

He studied her for a moment, as if waiting for her to have a sudden change of heart, and take him up on his offer. When she didn't, Dean sighed, and slowly dragged his stool back around to the bar. Ellen had been watching us with an amused look, and as soon as Dean's stool was right again, she reached under the counter and slid a beer at him. He caught it in his hand, pulled the top off, and took a long pull, all in the matter of five seconds.

A quick count of the empties in front of him told me Dean was on his fourth while I was only just managing to get through my third. Okay, I have to admit that it was pretty childish of me, but I felt that swell of pride and competitiveness bubbling up inside of me. I just couldn't resist.

I lifted my hand and gaze a lazy flick of my fingers. "Ellen, pass me another would you?"

She obliged, and both she and Dean watched as I gulped it down. The beer burned in my throat, and I shuddered after I'd swallowed, but I made sure to compose myself afterwards, placing the empty bottle with the others in front of me and grinning smugly at Dean. He quickly finished his own off, his eyes closing slightly as a shudder rippled through him as well.

Ellen looked between us, and then back at me, noticing what I was up to. "Do you want another-"

"Yes please."

As soon as I had another bottle in my hand, and was twisting the top off, Dean waved Ellen down as well. "One more for me, too."

With that, the contest began.

Four beers, five beers, six and then seven… I started to feel a buzz coming on as I brought my eighth to my wobbly lips, a headache pounding in my temples. By that time, Ellen had gone into the back to help Jo clean up, and left all of the beers on the bar in front of us, ready to plucked when needed.

"You can r-really hold your alcohol!" Dean exclaimed, slamming down his ninth and reaching for another. He'd shed his jacket two in a half beers ago, and had dribbled most of those two in a half down the front of his shirt.

"Same to you _Buster_." I drawled out the B, and began to giggle, realizing I had just said "Buster". Who says "Buster" anymore?

Lily was still standing off to the side of us, watching with a horrified expression at what was occurring before her. She'd seen me drunk before. Once or twice, she's had to hold my hair up as I got sick in a random gas station. But I knew this was the first time she'd seen me drink so much in one sitting. I was usually better to not drink around her like that. As I cracked open my ninth, I realized that Mira and Sam were gone. Somewhere in my beer-buzzed brain, I wondered where they had wandered off to. But somewhere else, I really could have cared less.

It took about ten minutes for me to forget how many beers I'd had. Counting the empty bottles was out of the option, since I was seeing triple and none of the damn things would hold still. All I knew was that we'd stopped drinking, and Dean and I had begun singing old 80's music together.

"_Bound to be, gotta be, gonna be a BLUE COLLAR MAN!"_ I couldn't even speak straight, let alone sing; my words were coming out in a jumbled heap of nonsense.

Dean was half out of his stool, swaying slightly as he grinned. "You're a g-good man, Ash." He held the "s" in my name for longer than he should have, and I began to giggle again.

"Thanks, b-bitch!"

"Bitch?" Dean repeated, blinking at me. He began to laugh again. "That's what _I _say!"

He was bobbing his head, humming something to himself when he caught sight of Lily, inching away from us little by little. "Hey Lily!" Dean called, spreading his arms out wide like an eagle would. "Come over here!" This time, it was Lily's eyes that went wide. She shook her head for the fifth or sixth time that night, and Dean beckoned her again.

"Come on _silly Lily_! Just c-come sit!"

She seemed reluctant, but something pulled her over to the stool beside him. As soon as she was seated, Dean reached out an arm and yanked her chair so it was right up against his. I didn't know what to make of scene playing out before me, so I just laughed, and gasped drunkenly as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

Lily let out a squeak of surprise. If she hadn't been red before, there was nothing that compared to the way she looked now. I was waiting for steam to burst out of her ears like in those dumb cartoons, and for her to make the sound of a train whistle.

"Dean," she squirmed against his hold, and then fell silent when he smirked at her.

"Hey, let's say we cut the talking short and get straight to the action, hmm?" he leaned closer to Lily, who's nose wrinkled at the stale stench of alcohol on his breath, no doubt. Dean stopped, and then twisted his neck so that his nose was pressed into her hair, curling slightly at her shoulders. He inhaled once, and then pulled back again, his grin wider than before. "My baby's p-parked out back. You wouldn't _believe _how soft the seats feel against bare…" he trailed off, his hand moving from her waist of her arm, laying limp at her side, "_skin_."

"I…I…" Lily's eyes darted between Dean, and his hand, crawling up her arm like a spider. When she finally looked at me, my head was starting to clear, and I was suddenly making sense of the situation, as well as how uncomfortable Lily looked. I was just pulled my arm back to show Dean my right-hook when Lily jumped up from her stool. She did it so quickly, Dean nearly toppled onto the floor, but he managed to catch himself on the bar, and watch as Lily scurried out of the room, into the darken night.

"Aw man." Dean muttered under his breath.

I made a move to smack him over the head, but I missed by a long-shot, slamming my palm flat against the counter top instead. I was still rallied up, though, and wasn't leaving until I gave Dean a piece of my mind. "You idiot! That was my _sister _you were harassing!" despite my tone of voice, Dean began to chuckle, shaking his head slightly. Ignoring me, he reached out for another beer, his hand sliding down the neck from the condensation.

As he chugged it, I could see his eyes getting droopier and droopier with each swallow. Before he was even half down, he let go of the bottle, letting it clatter and smash onto the floor beside his stool. "Damn." He whispered, not even registering the mess. "That is not going to feel good in the morning." And before I could say anything, he'd gotten tired of holding his head up, and let it slam onto the counter top with a loud thud. I peered at his face, and realized that he was passed out cold.

Suddenly, I was all alone in the silence. Just me, and a couple dozen beer bottles. What the hell… I reached out, and grabbed another. Here's to loneliness, I thought, raising it in the air to no one. Cheers.


	5. Five Mira

5. Mira

I don't trust people easily.

There's no way I can control it, really; I just…don't trust them. When I sat down beside Sam in Ellen's bar, I was as stiff as a board, my hand hovering over my jean's pocket where my .45 magnum was. I didn't plan on shooting the guy, but it was nice to know I had a weapon at the ready, just in case. Evidently, after ten minutes of being in the bar, I knew Sam wasn't the troubled Winchester I'd have a problem with.

He and I watched as Dean and Ash chugged beer after beer, each gradually getting more and more drunk before our eyes. I still hadn't finished my second, and after seeing those two down about nine each, I wasn't feeling up to it. Beside me, Sam was leaning across the counter, watching his brother with an amused expression. He let out a slight "tch" with a smile spreading across his face.

"Looks like our siblings have a lot in common."

"Looks like." I agreed, and then felt my own smile on my lips. Just like Ash was loosening towards the alcohol, I was loosening up towards Sam. I took a chance. "Do you mind if we go outside? I'd rather not watch Ash get so drunk she can't stand."

Sam stared at his brother for a second, and then ran a hand through his thick, dark hair, laughing quietly. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, actually." He stood up from his chair and grabbed his coat off the back, pulling it on and then motioning for me to lead the way.

There was an awkward moment at the doors of the bar when I made a move to go through them at the same time Sam did, and then we both pulled back at the same time, too. I forced a smile, although I felt like a complete idiot. Sam's cheeks were coloring, so he must have felt the same way.

"Ladies first."

Outside, the cool breeze felt refreshing; it was a nice change from the stuffy, stale air inside of Ellen's bar. I'm sure it's not always like that, but when there are two people getting drunk, it really starts to smell. I stopped just on the sidewalk underneath a flickering light up above the doors, taking a moment to inhale and exhale, clearing my mind. I felt Sam come up behind me, standing awkwardly at my side.

His head was blocking most of the light from the flickering bulb. Curiously, I tilted my face upwards, and realized just how tall Sam was. He must have been about 6'3, maybe more. I felt even more relaxed around him because of this. I was taller than both Lily and Ash. To be with someone taller than me was comforting.

Sam's hair lifted in the night's air, and his eyes seemed distant. While I stared at him, I stunned myself by recognizing just how handsome he was. It wasn't immediate, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. It was like he had me hooked, like his face alone was spell-binding. When I noticed that he was staring at me, I cleared my throat and began towards where our van was still parked. It thrilled me to hear Sam following.

"Do you three really sleep in there?" He asked, motioning briefly at the back end of the van.

I nodded, and then said, "Well, we used to. That was before your brother gave my sisters the idea of credit card scams."

Silence ensued. I checked over my shoulder to see if Sam had run off. But there he was, standing in the pale moonlight, his eyes set on the van like he was trying to figure something out. I opened up the back doors, revealing the make-shift mattress and gave a small sigh at just how pathetic it looked.

"Can I ask you something?" Sam asked from behind me.

I stopped, half way in the van, half out, one leg dangling over the bumper, and then nodded. "Um, sure."

"Why did you become a hunter?"

My face darkened instantly, and it felt like someone had reached their hand inside of my chest, and pinched my heart. Ignoring Sam for the time being, I pulled myself up into the van fully, and then shifted my position so that both of my legs were now dangling over the bumper, the toes of my shoes just barely touching the grass. When I looked at Sam, he was waiting patiently in the same spot he had been before, watching me move. I forced a smile, and patted the empty area beside me. Lily and Ash told me I had a very persuasive way about me, and that it was a gift I shouldn't use on people I loved. I didn't love Sam, of course, but I still made sure to keep nonchalant about my gestures, just so I wouldn't be "using my gift" on him.

He didn't hesitate to sit down.

In those few minutes, I decided that what I really liked most about Sam was how patient he was. He didn't say a single word as I tried to gather my thoughts, my memories and reasoning's into something he would understand. I didn't feel pressured whatsoever, and for the first time in a while, I didn't feel nervous as well. Something about Sam Winchester was making me more relaxed than I had been in years.

"If you don't want to talk about it," he began, but I interjected softly.

"No, it's ok."

I'd already figured out where I was going to begin. Now all I had to do was calm my last jumping nerve so I could tell it without breaking down halfway through and looking like a fool. I turned my face towards his, and felt my breath catch in my throat at that patient look of his, and the warm feeling I got in the pit of my stomach when his eyes stared into mine. He made me want to confide my story to him. So that's just what I did.

"Three years ago, I was just a normal young adult. I was just getting ready to move out of my parent's house, where I'd been living through University." I paused, both readying myself for the next part, and thinking of how to say it. "I came back one night after school to find everyone in my house...dead. My mom, Dad, baby sister, even the family cat.." I trailed off, swallowing the sadness in my throat. It was still hard to talk about.

Sam was looking at me with a sympathetic, but intense look of such caring I was slightly taken aback. It took me a moment to collect myself enough to continue.

"In fact, families around my street began dying as well. The only reason I'm still alive was that I wasn't at home. One night, while sitting alone, I head my next door neighbour scream. I ran over to see what the matter was…and I saw her." My eyes focused on the memory, playing out before me like some sick movie I couldn't make stop. "It was a girl, just some teenager, with these eyes, these black eyes, who was killing my neighbours and I just thought "I don't care anymore, just kill me too" She smiled, like she had heard me, and I just stood there and-" I stopped as I felt Sam's hand touch my leg. After a moment of calming down, I resumed.

"That was when Ash and Lily came in. Ash jumped the demon, and Lily drew the seal beside it. When she was done drawing, Ash forced the demon into the seal and exercised it. They saved my life. And so, since I had nothing left y'know...I asked if I could go with them." I finished, looking up at Sam. There was a moment of silence, before he spoke himself.

"Both of my parents were killed by a demon too." He said, and I stared at him. "And my girlfriend Jessica." 

"Oh..." I said, and then we both fell silent, recalling our own horrible memories.

This silence was almost comforting, which was funny and sad at the same time. I thought about what had been taken from me, from the both of us. Lily, Ash and I were like sisters, but I knew they didn't fully understand what I went through, and what I was still going through. Their families weren't slaughtered by some demonic teenage girl. Sam Winchester understood, though. He was someone I could open up to and have him open up right back.

"So now we hunt." I looked at his face, and saw a smile playing on his lips.

"Now we hunt."

All a person can really ask for in life is someone to listen to their problems. You can deny it if you want, say that you're the one who listens and doesn't need to be listened to. But you're probably lying, because to know someone cares about your pain is what everyone wants. I think that's why I spent so much time with Sam that night, sitting in the back of our van, talking about anything and everything.

I learned simple things about him, like how he hated clowns, so this last case was uncomfortable for him. "But it's something you have to do." He said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. I learned that he was about to enter into law school when Dean pulled him away, and how he was going to ask his girlfriend to marry him before she was killed. He briefly described to me the cases he and his brother had embarked on in the past few months, including "The woman in white", a Wendigo, and "Bloody Mary".

"When I was in University," I said, staring at my hands as I spoke, "I used to hear girls telling those myths like they were jokes while I was leaving early to go kill them. Sometimes I wish I were like those girls, hidden in the dark, believing that they _were _just myths."

Sam nodded slowly. "I know. I wonder how different things would be if that were case."

I let out a tired sigh, and pushed myself further into the back of the van, leaning my head against the sides as my eyes began to droop. "Sometimes," I whispered, and then paused, wondering if I should continue. Sam stared at me evenly, waiting for me to do so. Something in that stare, and in his eyes, pushed me to. "Sometimes I don't think I'm cut out for hunting."


	6. Six Mira

6. Mira

Thinking back, I don't know what made me say that. Maybe it was Sam. He made me feel like I could trust him with anything. It was different from Lily or Ash, who although I knew I could always trust them, sometimes it was hard to really open up. Yet there I was, opening up like a book, for some stranger.

"And why's that?" Sam asked, twisting his torso so that he was facing me.

My answer came out in a rush. "I don't like to kill things, even the monsters. To take something's life away... I don't like it. I mean, I'm okay with research, and both Ash and Lil can kill the things, but I just can't seem to want to hurt them."

When Sam laughed, I felt something in me leap, just at the sound of it. "You know," he said with a malevolent smile, "I don't think _not _wanting to kill is a bad thing."

"It is when your job requires it."

Sam's smile slowly fell, and he gave me a sympathetic look. "There's nothing wrong with not wanting to be a hunter. You shouldn't feel like you have to be one, if you don't want to." Despite his reassuring words, I felt my head shaking, not quite agreeing with what he had said.

"No, I like helping people. But…" I trailed off, unable to find the right words. Thankfully, Sam saw where I was coming from.

"Not wanting to kill shows you're compassionate. It's not a bad thing when you look at it that way, because you're still saving people." He laughed shortly, looking down at his lap as he spoke. "I can't kill things easily, either. Dean's always the one doing it. And I feel bad, but then…I don't. It's weird."

I nodded. "Yeah."

The wind picked up, and it had a sharp edge to it. I shivered, and then squinted at the windows of Ellen's bar, unable to see Ash or Dean's heads. Without saying anything, I pulled myself from the back of the van, and walked across the parking lot, already imagining what I was going to find inside. I could hear Sam behind me, following with a cautious pace.

"Mira?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

I didn't answer, but I figured my hand reaching for my magnum would be a suffice response.

When I reached the doors of the bar, I stopped, and took a deep breath, closing my hands around my gun tightly. I always felt a little better with it, but at the same time, I felt worse, realizing the possibility of killing something. Beside me, Sam was peering into the circle window in the middle of the door.

"It's too dirty." He pulled away, and tried wiping at the dust-filled glass without much luck. "I can't see anything."

I was already picturing Ash laying on the ground, her stomach clawed at, or neck sliced. My chest began to heave, and that was all it took to summon enough courage. I reached out and pushed open the door, stepping inside the moment I could and held up my gun.

Well, I was right about one thing; Ash was on the ground.

Passed out drunk.

My gun lowered instantly, and I brought my hand to my face, rubbing my eyes tiredly. A bottle of beer had been broken on the floor beside Dean, who was face-down on the counter top. Around him were dozens of empty bottles, swimming in puddles of spilled beer.

"Dear Lord." I muttered, and heard Sam laugh.

"I'd better get Dean out of here."

I knew I had to do the same, although Ash was pretty heavy when she was slack…and drunk.

Following Sam's actions with Dean, I hauled Ash to a lazy upright position, struggling slightly under her weight. I wrapped her arm around my neck, and managed to drag her out to the van with Sam and Dean close behind. I could hear Dean murmuring something, but all I could catch was "silly…pretty…" and the rest was lost in a drunken jumble of slurs.

"Okay, Dean." Sam said, letting him slump against the bumper of our van. "Just sit there for a second."

He helped me lift Ash into the back, and once she was in, I looked down at my sneakers shyly, stubbing the toe of one into the grass. When I looked up again, Sam was grimacing as his brother continued murmuring, this time about someone's skin against the seats in his car.

"He's pretty bad when he's drunk." I observed, and Sam shook his head.

"You should see him sober."

I tossed a glance over my shoulder at Ash, still passed out cold on the "mattress" in the van. I was going to need some help getting her into the hotel. "Hey," I said, returning my attention to Sam. "If you guys are looking for a hotel, we're staying at one not too far from here."

Sam considered my offer, and then shrugged, sticking his hands deep inside of his pockets. "Might as well. I'll go get the Impala. You lead the way."

* * *

><p>I awoke from a nightmare early the next morning, when the sun was barely peaking over the horizon, and the hotel room was still pretty dark. My heart was hammering against my chest, my fingers gripping the sheets I'd taken from Ash's bed and thrown over top of me, since I was the one sleeping on the couch. The first thing I did when my eyes adjusted to the darkness was look over at the two single beds. I could see the outline of Ash, still fully dressed, curled up in a ball, and Lily, hidden in the pile of blankets she'd cocooned herself in when I'd gotten to the hotel. I wanted to ask her why, but she refused to tell me. Still, I had a pretty good idea what her reasoning was; whenever Lily got flustered, she hid.<p>

My mind was still pretty foggy, and I was considering trying to go back to sleep when I heard something outside. It was voices, two of them, speaking quietly just outside our door. I didn't get up right away; early mornings didn't agree with me, so my guard was usually quite low. It could have been a demon for all I knew, and yet I remained in my bed, blinking tiredly at the door and listening.

"…have to leave, now."

"…said good-bye yet…"

"…time. Get in the car…"

"…Dean…few hours…"

"No."

There was the sound of car doors slamming, and then a…thunderous engine roaring.

At that point, my mind had cleared, and I finally understood who had been talking outside our door. It was Sam and Dean, and they were leaving. I practically flew out of my bed, running across the length of the hotel room to the door. It took me a minute or so to get through the locks I'd never thought twice about setting up five hours before, and when I finally yanked open the door, revealing the pale blue sky, I could just see the taillights of the Impala turning out of the hotel parking lot.

Something inside of me tightened, and I gripped the door frame, feeling an odd sense of sadness overwhelming me. Well, I thought sadly, watching the taillights fading onto the main road; there goes the only man who I will ever be able to confine in. The worst part? I hadn't even been able to say "good-bye".

"What are you doing?"

I turned around quickly, and came face to face with Lily, who was trying to see around me with a tired expression. One half of her face was red, with creases made from her pillow swimming across her cheeks. When our eyes met, and she could see how upset I was, she finally understood.

"They're gone, aren't they?"

Slowly, I nodded.

I couldn't read her expression, if she was upset or not. All she did was turn around, and head back into the hotel room, reaching for the duffel bag off of the floor. I watched, slightly stunned, as she began shoving whatever mess we had made into the bag, working quickly.

At the other end of the room, Ash moaned, stirring from the noise of the guns making contact with each other as they were thrown into the bag. She lifted herself from the bed with much difficulty, and blinked at Lily and I, looking lost.

"What the hell are you guys doing?

"Packing." Lily answered, straightening up with the duffel bag in her hand. "Get up; we're leaving."

Ash groaned dramatically, and kicked her legs, reluctant to move. "Let me sleep, god-dammit."

"No, Ash. Up."

In the end, it took the two of us (that being Lily and I) to drag her out of her bed, receiving much resistance from Ash. After a few minutes of constant struggle, she finally gave up, and with dark scowls at us, helped load the van. As soon as we were all packed into the front, me behind the wheel this time, she asked, "So how come we're up at the crack of dawn like a couple of freaking roosters?"

Lily was busy examining the map, so I answered her, staring at the road ahead that was beginning to grow lighter with the sun getting higher in the sky. "Sam and Dean left this morning." I said, feeling that same pinch in my heart again, "So we're leaving, too."

"Oh." Was Ash's response, and she left it at that.


	7. Seven Lily

7. Lily

It was months before we came across the Winchester's path again. After we woke up and they were gone, we continued working some cases that seemed to fall into our laps with each city we visited. Mostly, they were simple jobs, like killing some ghosts. We had to exorcise a few demons, but that wasn't too bad. We hopped from hotel to hotel across the continent, our credit card scams becoming handier than I figured they would be. We started relying on them for everything; food, clothes, and a few new weapons here and there. Personally, I enjoyed the new badges. It gave us access to every crime scene we visited. It's a wonder we didn't do it before.

Although I hid it well from Mira and Ash, I found myself thinking about Dean a lot. At first it was the bad things, like his horrible pick-up lines and his shameless attempts at flirting. But then, a few days after leaving the hotel early morning, I remembered those beautiful green eyes of his and his warm his voice was. Little things like that made me miss his presence, but then the bigger things (like his seemingly constant need to embarrass me) made me appreciate his absence.

About two and a half months later, the three of us were lounging in a hotel just outside of West Virginia, where the beds weren't terribly comfortable but the room was pretty cheap. Ash lounged on her back, throwing a tennis ball against the wall in front of her. "So," she said, focusing her eyes on her actions, rather than Mira and I. "What've we got?"

I sat at the desk set up against the far wall, typing away furiously on my laptop. I didn't look up as I spoke. "Would you stop that? The people in the next room are going to get pissed." I was slightly on edge, trying to find information to answer her question. When I found the right page, I sat up eagerly and summarized for Mira and Ash.

"According to the city's online newspaper records, every ten years exactly ten people go missing. Their remains are found in various locations around the city."

_Tock, tock_. I felt my eye twitching slightly as Ash continued tossing the tennis ball.

Mira was sitting on the floor in front of her bed, sorting through the duffel bag's contents so we knew what we had on the ready. Her eye brows pushed together as she thought about what I had said. "Repetitive killings; the same number of people go missing each time." She looked at me. "I'm guessing five men and women?"

I scrolled down the page a bit, and then nodded. "Yeah. And recently, three people have gone missing; two men and a woman."

"We got names?" Ash asked, continuing to throw the ball at the wall.

"Alex Wood, Ryan Kass, and Jennifer Dayenze."

Mira looked between Ash and I. "Are you guys thinking it's an angry spirit?"

_Tock, tock._

"That's pretty impressive for a spirit." Ash commented, and I nodded, agreeing with her.

Mira put down the dagger she'd been holding, and stood, coming up to stand behind me and peer at my computer screen. "It could be a really powerful spirit." She said. I pushed back my chair and got to my feet. My hand instantly went to the FBI badge I'd kept right beside my laptop.

"I guess we're going to need more information on it."

_Tock, tock_. "Yeah," Ash agreed, finally putting the ball down and getting up herself. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>I never liked this part of the job; drilling the victim's family. But it was necessary if we were to find the creature that killed them in the first place. Mira and I had changed into a black pencil skirt and white short sleeved ruffle top with a black blazer over top. Very professional. Ash was in pants and a white button down shirt, complete with a tie and all. The old woman's house quite small, and littered with plastic figurines of squirrels and owls. I could see something pinch in Ash's face as she entered inside, looking around at all the oil-black eyes that stared back at her. I fought back a smile, trying to stay serious for the victim's mother's sake.<p>

She was an elderly woman with thin white hair and large glasses, shaking when she spoke with distant eyes. As she recapped what happened, I couldn't help but feel horrible for making her do so. She looked like she was in pain. "And then... and then they found him! But he was r-ripped to pieces and...and..." The older lady sobbed, and Mira laid a hand on her shoulder. I had to look away at one point. It was her face, this horrified expression that she wore. The story was one of the saddest I'd heard in a while; this little old lady, losing her only son in the most horrific way.

"Miss, when was the last time you saw your son Alex?" Mira asked her gently.

"We'd gone for a stroll at night, and were walking the dog, Rocky. Suddenly he began barking and barking, and we stopped to try and calm him down. W-when I looked up, Alex was... Alex was..." She trailed off in a sniff, and Mira handed her a tissue which she blew loudly into.

"Now this is very important, alright Mrs. Wood, but can you remember seeing anything as he disappeared? Anything at all?" Mira asked. I was glad we had her here. I was too nervous to say anything to her, and Ash seemed to be very distinctly avoiding looking at the old lady. Mira was the only one with valid people skills out of all of us.

When the little old lady kept quiet, Mira added in, "Did you see something unusual Mrs. Wood? Anything you couldn't explain?" The old lady looked at the three of us with wide eyes, quivering slightly.

"Well...this is going to sound crazy...I told the cops and they told me it was my way of dealing with grief..."

I sat up slightly, exchanging a quick glance with Mira; this was it.

"Go on." Mira said, "We'll believe you."

"Well, Alex and I were going on a walk...and his dog Rocky, what a nice little pup, started barking like crazy. We t-tried to calm him down, but suddenly we saw this...this thing. It looked like a human, but with these long sharp finger nails and the way it moved, on all fours. It wasn't...a man, it was this monster, and its eyes were devoid of emotion and just glazed over. It had so many scars, and I'll never b-be able to get that thing out of my head." She finished her story with a blow of her Kleenex, and I looked at Ash, who was looking at the old lady now.

"Alright, thank you Mrs. Wood, we'll get out of your hair now." Mira gave her shoulder a light squeeze, and then looked over at Ash and I, signalling we leave.

"Okay." Ash said when got out. "What the hell are we dealing with?"

I shook my head, lost in thought. A vampire? Then surely there would have been more than just remains of the victims. Vampires don't eat the flesh. And what that lady described, it was no vampire. It wasn't a werewolf, because the heart was left in the remains. Not a spirit, definitely not a spirit. And it didn't seem like the demon Motive of Operation. Then, what? It was so confusing.

"I'm not sure." I said carefully. "But we should go back to the hotel and see where all the remains were found and see if we've got a connection or something."

_Tock._

"Would you stop that, Ash?" I snapped, feeling irritable. It was hard to concentrate on pinning locations on the map when that was all I could hear behind me. Twice I put a pin where a department store was, and had to yank it out of the wall to try again. At the desk, Mira was checking some of her old books again, and Ash was tossing the damn ball against the wall.

"No." She answered, catching the ball in her hand, only to toss it again. "It helps me think."

"It doesn't help anyone else." I muttered, but then I lost that track of mind, veering onto another as I stared at the pins on the map we'd put on the hotel wall. "There. Looks like we found a hiding spot for our monster."

Mira came up behind me, and squinted at the map. "The hospital? Well I guess our creature can blend in."

"Have you figured out what it is?" I asked, and she shook her head.

_Tock tock._

"So we take some better weapons and storm the hospital?" Ash ventured up.

"Yeah Ash, that's a great plan." I said, sarcasm dripping heavily from my voice.

She sat up to give me a dirty look. "If you've got another idea, shoot." As soon as she spoke, there was a knock on the door. Startled, she jumped slightly, and then looked between Mira and I expectantly. When neither of us made a move, she groaned. Ash, tennis ball in hand, answered the door cautiously.

"Hello?" She said, peering at the stranger.

The voice that came from the hall was hoarse, sounding like an elderly man. "Would you quit that horrible slamming noise? It's a God awful racket, and you young lady should know better not to make noise! You should be proper and dignified, not a hooligan who spends all hours of the day playing with a stupid-" Ash shut the door on him, locking it shut.

"God what an old fart." She muttered, dropping back onto her bed and getting ready to throw the ball again.

"Wait. What was that he said?" I asked, the cranks in my mind beginning to turn.

Ash didn't look like she understand where I was going."He called me a hooligan, and a-"

"No, the other thing."

"That I was making a God awful racket?"

"Mira...what do we know about pagan gods?" I asked, and a look of dawning crossed both Ash and Mira. Letting the ball roll to the floor, Ash came over beside me as I Google'd a list of pagan gods. I heard Mira crack open one of her books, flipping through the pages at a furious pace.

"Found it!" Mira said after about half an hour of us constantly looking. "The Pagan God of the Flesh is said to a sentient God who hungers for human flesh. Every ten years he will take ten victims to replenish his energy by feeding on them. For ten years he sleeps in a quiet location. They can be killed only with a rusty dagger through the heart." She read. Ash began to search through our duffle bag for a rusty knife.

"So we go in, find the guy who doesn't eat, doesn't sleep and is just sort of off and kill him?" She looked up with the knife braced in her hand, and I nodded.

"We should make sure we're ready for him though. This isn't just a ghost or demon- he's a big deal."

"Will that even go through to the heart?" Mira asked, peering at the knife Ash held with an uneasy look.

Ash shrugged her shoulders, and said with an unusually nonchalant tone, "If not we'll just have to cut him open to get to it."


	8. Eight Lily

8. Lily

"Well, there's the hospital." Mira murmured, pressing her face against the passenger side window.

The building was tall, standing higher than the cluster of trees that surrounded it. Our van rumbled up the dirt road, but we had to stop at the large rusted gates, spotting the chains and padlock that held them together. Getting out of the van, we grabbed our duffel bag, each one of us wearing solemn expressions. Ash grabbed the bolt cutters we kept, just for predicaments like this one, and walked ahead of Mira and I to cut through the lock. She threw it into the grass at the side of the dirt road, and then pushed open the gate, stepping back to give us a triumphant grin.

When neither Mira nor I said anything as we walked past her, Ash's grin fell into a scowl. "Well, you're welcome."

"Thanks, Ash." I tossed casually over my shoulder, hearing her mutter unintelligently under her breath.

The doors to the hospital had boards over the windows, and another lock keeping us from going inside. When Ash cut this one, Mira (who had been leading us) hesitated to open the doors. I noticed that her fingers were hovering over her belt, where her gun lay, and they were trembling slightly.

"You okay?" I asked, startling her.

She turned and gave me her best reassuring smile, although I saw right through it. "Fine. I don't like not knowing where the thing is, that's all."

I nodded, understanding, and then touched her shoulder. "Want me to go first?"

"No, no. I will." She took a deep breath, and then opened the doors. Ash and I exchanged uneasy glances before following her.

Inside, the hallways and door and floor were all pure white, sort of like how you would expect a hospital to look; squeaky clean. Some of the doors were part way open, and I could see unmade beds and medical equipment lying around. I shuddered, forcing myself to continue down the hallway, my shotgun at the ready. Ash had the rusted knife, and her eyes were darting around the room. It was Mira I was most worried about, but after she got her gun out of her belt was holding it ready in her hands, she seemed fine. Good; we had to be on our game for this thing.

The lights started to flicker, and a weird buzz filled the room. I looked at Mira, who gripped her own weapon tighter. And then, it was like someone had flipped a switch. I was in pain, horrible pain, on my right side. Something wet soaked through my shirt, and when I shakily looked down at myself, I saw claw marks ripping through the fabric. The pain was too much, and I collapsed with a yell, clutching at my bloody side.

"_Lily_!" Ash roared.

And then I saw it. As she turned to me, that thing was crouched behind her, rearing up to strike.

It was as the old lady had described; a man, but not a man. His eyes were blank, empty. It was like he was lost of all emotion, and as he looked around, they remained that way, even as they passed over the three of us. That scared me more than my injury, just because of how unusual it was. His hair was cropped short, so blonde it was almost white, and he smiled as he pulled back one of his arms, and clawed open Ash's back

She fell to her knees with a groan, writhing on the floor with pain.

I struggled onto my knees, feeling like there was a knife deep inside of me; every move I made was like someone was twisting it. When I raised my eyes, I saw him reach out his arm, and slash it across Mira, throwing her into an old medical trolley off to the side. While she lay there, limp, he surveyed Ash and I, setting his dead eyes on us as he spoke.

"Oh, now who do we have here? A few hunters. Isn't that cute. You thought you could take me down with that...that butter knife?" he nodded slightly at the knife Ash had resting beside her; she'd dropped it, I'm sure, when the pain became so unbearable. He spoke with a guttural tone that made my skin crawl. With much effort, I grabbed my gun, and brought it up, taking a few shots at him.

The bullets tore through his body, but he seemed not to feel the at all. He looked down at his chest and side, as if something had tickled him, and then raised his face to mine again, tilting it slightly. Without saying anything, he walked over, and kicked my gun out of my hand, so quickly that I wasn't able to pull away and prevent this.

"Now, you girls are going to be a good feed. You've got spunk, drive. The young flesh always tastes the most...delectable."

He crouched down beside me, and ran one of his fingers along the line of my jaw, his dead eyes staring deep into mine. I shuddered, and tried to squirm away from him. My side pinched in protest, and I cried out, feeling drained of all of my energy. He laughed quietly, but before he could do anything else, Ash had stood up shakily, and leaped onto his back, driving the knife into his shoulder.

He hissed in pain, and turned his torso with inhuman speed, managing to throw Ash into the wall.

"You little-" He snarled, taking a step to where she lay in a crumpled heap, but then a shot rang out.

Mira, now standing with some effort, had shot her gun not at the Pagan god, but at the lamp above. It fell on him, momentarily immobilizing him. "We've got to get out of here! Lily, Lily, get Ash, come on!" I struggled to get onto my feet, and clutching at my chest, helped Mira drag her out of the broken down hospital and back to the van. She cursed at us the entire time, demanding we let her go back and finish him off.

I fell into the passenger's seat with a whimper, and closed my eyes, trying to regulate my breathing. Everything inside of me was on fire. In between Mira and I, Ash was grimacing through what I figured to be the pain in her back, but turned out to be leaving the pagan God behind, alive.

"I...almost...had him!" She grunted. "I almost had him…"

She repeated this the whole ride back, sounding rueful. I knew she was upset, but we all were, and it would have been helpful for her to stop reminding us that our attempt was a bust. I was relieved to see the hotel appear on my side of the road, feeling terribly exhausted. I knew I needed a doctor, but the closest we had was the first-aid kit we kept in the back of the van.

Inside the room, Mira set Ash and I down on one of the beds and played nurse, bandaging and disinfecting the wounds. When she finished, I was feeling slightly better. Evidently, so was Ash. Her back had been scratched up, but at least the cuts weren't very deep, so she was back up on her feet, throwing that tennis ball at the wall again.

_Tock_

I touched my hand to my side, and said quietly, "Look, we can't take this guy on our own."

Ash glanced at me suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

_Tock_

"Well," I began carefully, keeping in mind her current mood, "It's obvious this Pagan God isn't going down without a fight. The three of us can't take him on ourselves, judging from the outcome of that last attempt." Mira, who was packing up the first-aid kit, nodding, agreeing with me. Ash, though, sat up angrily.

"I almost had him!"

_Tock_

"I'm calling Sam and Dean." I said, ignoring her and speaking to Mira, who seemed more eager to listen than argue.

"I hope they're not busy." She murmured, as I grabbed my phone and the paper with their numbers on it. "We're a long way from Ellen's bar, which I'm better is where they are."

I squinted at the paper. "Yeah, but they're the only hunters we know."

"No!" Ash cried, shaking her head. "I, we can do this!"

"Ash," I said, giving her a tired look, "Be reasonable. We need their help."

"No we don't! We're doing fine!"

Mira was quick to side with me. "I agree with Lily, Ash. We need help on this one."

_Tock. _

It could have been because of the tennis ball repeatedly smacking against the hotel wall, eating at me, or the fact that my side was still on fire. But something made me turn on Ash with a dark look. "This is bigger than your stupid pride. We will get killed if we do this along! I'm calling them." Even though she looked more upset then than angry, I picked up my phone again.

"No!" she roared.

Mira touched her arm. "Ash…"

_Smash._

The tennis ball veered left to where Ash had been throwing it, shattering a mirror across from the bathroom. I stared as the shards rained down. Through the cracked mirror, I could see bits of Ash's fuming face glaring at my back. My eyes lowered to the phone in my hands, and after a quick calculation, weighing her current mood, I stood up, and opened the door to the room.

"Where are you going?" Mira asked, standing up to follow me.

I turned around, and motioned for her to sit. "I'm calling Dean and Sam outside, which seems to be much safer than in here." Without looking at Ash, I slammed the door behind me.

It was getting pretty dark already, and the streetlights were on, although it was still hard to see much. I reached out one hand, and blindly made my way towards where our van was parked in front of our hotel room. My hand touched the familiar hood, and I lowered myself onto it, perched on the nose. The light from my phone was dim, and I had to hold it close to the paper to try and read the numbers Sam had written on it. I was just making out the third digit in Dean's when a hand clamped over my mouth, silencing any scream that automatically bubbled up my throat. My phone fell through my fingers, and as I kicked out my legs, fighting against whatever was holding me, I felt something blunt being knocked against the side of my head. Slowly, the pain subsided, and I felt tired, going limp in the arms that held me as my eyes shut…

* * *

><p>I was met with darkness when I woke up. Something was covering my eyes, and from the god-awful stench in my nostrils, I figured it was some sort of dirty cloth. I realized that I was on my back, my arms and legs spread and clamped down. Whatever I was on was hard and cool; an operating table. So I was back in the abandoned hospital. Great. I tried to keep calm, but my heart was racing, and not being able to see wasn't helping.<p>

So, I thought to myself, the pagan God kidnapped me.

For all I knew, he was in the room as well. I tossed this assumption away, though, after I counted to one-hundred and twenty twice, and nothing happened. I was alone. But why? My kidnapping was obviously some sort of plot to lure Mira and Ash to the hospital so he could kill the three of us together. Or maybe it wasn't. Who knows how long I was passed out. Mira and Ash should have already left to look for me, and this would be the first place they would go. So where were they?

As well as the pain in my side where my wound was stretched open slightly, (thanks to the fact my arms and legs were spread), my legs were hurting as well. I tried to locate the pain exactly, and after fidgeting slightly, I realized that it was coming from my ankles. I couldn't see very well, but I knew at once that the skin on them was torn, just from the trickle of blood I faintly felt on my skin.

I heard something then, like the sound of a metallic door opening, and hitting the cement walls of the room. Every inch of my body tensed up, and I struggled against the clamps holding me, trying desperately to free myself. Being up against the supernatural was one thing, but to weaponless was sent shivers down my spine. I was a sitting duck, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Footsteps echoed throughout the room, and with each step, I flinched, knowing that he was getting closer…and then what? When the footsteps stopped, my breath caught in my throat. I could feel sweat on my forehead, slipping underneath my blindfold and into my eyes. And then was when soft fingers brushed across my face, touching the visible skin of my cheek. The fingers trailed along my cheek, and then stopped, right underneath the blind fold.

"Please." I whispered, and then stopped, unsure what to say next.

That was when the blindfold was lifted, and his face was revealed.

"Dean?" I said in wonderment, my voice hoarse.

"Hey Lil. What do you say we get you out of here?" His smile was so wide that despite the situation, I felt myself smiling back. He ducked his head and began releasing the clamps that held me down, struggling slightly but managing to pry them open.

I shook my head, amazed. "How did you find me?"

"Well, Ash called, mad as hell. I had no idea what she was saying at first, but when she calmed down she mentioned you were in trouble and you girls needed help. And since we can't leave a lady in danger, we came to help out. It's a damn good thing we were close by." Dean finished prying open the last clamp, and flashed me a quick smile before helping me sit up with his arm around my back.

I groaned at the pain in my feet as I tried to lower myself onto the ground, and his surprisingly gentle reply came, "Easy now, easy..."

I gasped when my side began to flame again, and then leaned into him as we stood there, our hips pressed tightly together. I looked around us, seeing that I had been trapped in an old operating room, with trays of ancient equipment and tools. When my eyes fell onto the doors Dean had come through, they burst open again. Sam came running into the room. He held Pagan God with his hands behind his back, and was struggling to shove him into the room ahead of him.

"Dean!" Sam grunted, needing help.

He looked at me, and gently retracted his arm, levelling his face with mine. "I'll be back in a second." He made sure I was fine on my own, leaning against a nearby countertop, before running across the room to where Sam was still struggling with the Pagan.

The two men shoved the monster onto the table, strapping him in with the clamps I had just been freed from. He swore and cussed and struggled against the straps, but Dean and Sam held him down, each man pushing on its shoulders. I looked over my shoulder as the doors opened again, and this time, Mira and Ash came running in, each looking relieved to see me. The reunion was going to have to wait.

"Ash, go!" Dean yelled, and I winced as Ash used her long silver dagger to cut into the Pagan' chest flesh, a precision Y-cut. I knew what she was going to do but couldn't look away as she peeled back the flesh, changed knife and stabbed him in the heart, numerous times. The Pagan writhed underneath Sam and Dean's hold, choking on its own blood. After he stopped struggling, Sam and Dean let go, looking from an incredibly bloody Ash to each other.

"Damn," Dean muttered, wiping at his sweaty forehead with the back of his arm, "remind me never to piss you off."

Ash's bad mood apparently lifted, she smiled and mopped the blood off her face. "Woo, that was a close one."

Dean looked at the dead Pagan, lying lifeless on the operating table for a moment before turning around and walking back to where I remained standing, grimacing through the pain. "How are you?" Mira was asking, standing at my side with an anxious look. "Your ankles look horrible."

I didn't even want to see them, so I took her word for it. "Just get me out of here, please."

When he reached us, Dean wrapped his arm around my waist. "Okay," he said, unusually serious as he gripped me. I was waiting for him to make some wise-remark, but he said nothing of the sort. "Take a step on my count. One, two, three…" I lifted my foot at the same time he did, and felt pain shooting up my leg to my side. I gasped and collapsed against him. When he caught me, he laughed nervously. "Well that's not going to work."

A couple of options were running through my head at that point, the main one being a gurney. They were probably all over the place, and it'd be an easy way out of there. But Dean wasn't thinking rationally. He looked at Sam, who was standing off to the side of us, murmuring quietly with Mira.

"Sam, help this girl onto my back, would you?"

"Dude, really? Flirting at a time like-"

"She can't walk, Sammy, so come on."

Sam lifted me up, to which I gritted my teeth, fighting back the cry that was pressing its way out of my mouth from the pain in my side. When I was sitting on Dean's back piggy-back style, his hands found my legs, and being cautious of my sore ankles, he held me securely in place. Despite this, he still had to say, "You better hold on, I'm a wild horse to ride."

* * *

><p>Back at the hotel, I pretended to be asleep while Dean, Sam, Mira and Ash spoke quietly across the room. Dean specifically told me to get some rest when we returned, but I was curious to hear what they were talking about. So with a few blankets thrown over top of me, hiding my face and opened eyes, I let my breathing regulate into that of a light snore, and listened.<p>

"Thanks for coming so quickly." Mira was saying quietly. "We couldn't have destroyed it without you guys."

"We're just glad we got there in time." That was Sam.

Dean gave a snort, sounding annoyed. "What do you mean 'in time'? The damn thing still clawed her side and ankles."

"What's done is done, Dean. At least she's alive."

At that moment, I had that same sort of feeling I'd had the day we first met Sam and Dean, when we were lined up against the wall; Dean was staring at me. I resisted the urge to squirm, but there was nothing I could do about the blush that spread across my cheeks.

"Yeah." He paused, and then cleared his throat. "Anyway, it's no problem. We're glad you guys called." I could practically hear the smile in his voice as he said, "Sam here hasn't shut up about Mira since we left."

"Dean!"

"Oh, like it's not true!"

"_Anyway_, just in case you guys can't reach us next time, here's our friend Bobby's number. He's a hunter too, and he'll help you out."

I could hear the couch groaning as Sam and Dean stood up, and the sound of their shoes across the floors as they walked towards the door. Peeking through the covers, I saw Mira pocketing a card Sam had given her, and Ash still wiping the blade of her sword with a dirty cloth, ridding it of the bloody stains. For a few minutes, the four of them stood awkwardly in front of the door. And then, Dean looked at me. I quickly shut my eyes again.

"Should I say good-bye to her?"

"No," Ash said, "Let her sleep. We'll tell her you guys left."

There wasn't any sound of the door opening, or the two men making their departure. I didn't dare look through the blankets again, because I could still feel the heat of Dean's gaze on me. I was just getting curious as to why they hadn't returned to their room yet when I felt something on my shoulder; a hand.

"Get some rest, Lily." Dean whispered, his lips right at my ear so no one else could hear him. "Stop spying on people and sleep."

Without letting on to the others, I gave a slight nod of my head, and he patted my shoulder gently before striding back over to the door. "See you girls later." He said, and then I heard the door being opened, and shut again.


	9. Nine Ash

9. Ash

It didn't take long until the three of us were onto our next destination and our next hunt. I couldn't help but be aware of the apparent absence whenever we were in a room; after three years of hunting with just my two sisters, you'd think I'd be used to it. But Sam and Dean were new, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy having them around. It was almost refreshing to have different people with us, although they weren't always the best of company. And sometimes having them around, and seeing how closer they were becoming with Mira and Lily, I sort of felt like a fifth wheel, bumping along behind them without much purpose.

The hotel we were staying at between jobs a few months later wasn't anything grand. Not that we usually stayed at the Ritz, but this place was probably one of the worst we'd checked into. There was only one bed, so Lily and Mira shared while I offered to take the couch that didn't fold out. The bathroom was the size of a broom closet and about as clean as one. When I went to take a shower that morning, I came out dirtier than before.

Naturally, I was quick to suggest that we pack up and move on to another town before we were all infested with some sort of unknown disease. I was standing at the mirror nailed onto the wall as I suggested it, picking at my short, pixie-cut hair with a disapproving frown. It's not like I wanted flat-iron hair like all the other dimwitted girls in the world; but my hair was just so plain sometimes. I looked at the uneven bangs that fell over my eyes, considering a new color, and then my neck snapped up when someone knocked on the door.

Mira, who'd been busy packing up her clothes, started for the door. "I'll get it."

I reached out for a baseball cap I'd found in the back of the van a few weeks before, and shoved it onto my head, hiding my messy hair. There we go. Crawling over the bed, (the room was so tiny, this was the only way to see the door) I strained my neck to try and catch sight of who was there.

"Are you Mira Williums?" A deep voice asked, and I felt all of the blood drain from my face.

It was the FBI. The _real _FBI. They had actual badges, which in contrast to our fake ones wasn't going to make us look good at all. As Mira backed away slowly from the man at the door, I swung my head around the room, looking for an escape. But I couldn't find one; we were on the seventeenth floor, and I lost my spider-man abilities when I turned seven. There was nowhere out.

The man in the doorway was wearing a long, black trench coat and a clean suit, his eyes dark and roaming the inside of the room until they landed on me, and narrowed into accusing slits. I was going to challenge him back until I heard him say, "That's them, boys."

A flood of FBI agents came running into the hotel room.

Mira lunged away from them, toppling into me and sending us both onto the floor. I scrambled to my feet just as two agents pushed on my back, pressing my face into the dingy carpet of the hotel room and handcuffing my hands behind me. I put up a fight, kicking my legs and struggling against their hold, but they were too strong. I head a _click _as the cuffs were locked in place, and turned my face, getting a horizon view of the hotel room.

To the left of me, squished between the couch and bed was Mira, getting handcuffed as well. Lily was half in the bathroom doorway, half-out, having appeared at the wrong time and forced onto her stomach like the rest of us.

"Get off of me!" I snarled, trying to twist my torso without much luck.

One of the men gave a hard shove into my shoulder blade. "Sorry, Ashley Elsberry. You're under arrest for suspicion of aid to murder and helping two dangerous fugitives."

At the mention of my full name, I let out another snarl and a burst of struggle as they forced me upright. Someone's hands patted down my sides, and I wriggled furiously, having never been one for people touching me. They found my knife, tucked away in my waist band, and pulled it out to show the man who remained in the doorway, watching the scene unfolding before him.

"Blade's about 6 inches, Hendrickson."

The man's eyes flickered darkly, and he looked at me as he spoke to the agent holding my knife. "The same size as the one who killed the man we found in the hospital."

_Man_? I wanted to scoff at them. _That was no man! He was a Pagan God, and you should be thanking me for getting rid of the damn thing. _I remained silent though, watching as the knife was passed to "Hendrickson" who carefully placed it in a plastic baggie. His eyes stayed on mine the whole time.

"I hope you know you're in a lot of trouble. You and your other little friends."

I gave him my darkest glare. "Is that so?"

He strode past me to where another agent was pulling our duffel bag out from underneath the bed; where we had been keeping it since arriving at the hotel. He'd also confiscated Lily's laptop, as well as all of our hunting books. Everything we needed to do what we do and survive was now in the hands of the FBI. Fantastic.

"Look what we've got here." Hendrickson tossed me a smug look before relieving the agent of our duffel bag, unzipping it and reaching inside.

I cringed when he pulled out the first weapon; a .45 magnum. His eyes widened slightly, and he held it up for me to see as he made a "Mhmm" sound in the back of his throat. On the other side of the room, Lily grunted, and I looked to see that one of the agents had his knee in the small of her back, as he handcuffed her.

"Hey!" I said angrily, and Hendrickson's eyes darted to me. "Mind telling your men to lay-off?"

"This is what happens when you disobey the law. Get used to it."

I was forced to my feet, and pulled across the hotel room to the door, and down the seventeen flights of stairs. The two men directing me wore stern looks and each kept one hand securely on either of my arms, making any sort of escape impossible. When I glanced over my shoulder near the bottom of the stairs, I saw Lily and Mira being lead to the same fate. I swung my head back around again, and let my chin touch my chest in a defeated motion. If only Sam and Dean were there…

* * *

><p>The chairs we were seated in were terribly uncomfortable; only the best for those breaking the law. I didn't like being handcuffed to the arm of the chair, but I felt better with Mira and Lily on either side of me in the brightly lit room, our chairs lined up in a row of three so we could get a "stern talking to" all at the same time. In front of us, Hendrickson had set up a television on a trolley, and sat behind a metal table, the kind you expected to see in one of those lame cop shows where they shine the lamps in your face and demand you tell them the truth. I was glad to see no lamp in the room, although there were five other armed agents looming behind our chairs "just in case".<p>

Before going in for questioning, the three of us were sent through a security process. An elderly lady officer patted us each down, taking anything and everything that weren't clothing, or shoes. "Watch where you're patting, lady" I muttered, gritting my teeth at the feeling of her arthritic hands running up and down the length of my pant legs. Each time she did this, she found something new; at the end of my pat-down, she had confiscated a small knife, paperclips, three fake badges and a tiny vial of holy water.

What can I say? I like to be prepared.

The police lady reached for the chain around my neck, and I tried to pull away. "Don't even think about-"

She pulled it out of my shirt despite my protests and stared at the pentagram-cross combination charm. She lifted it off my head and I felt my chest beginning to heave as my anger began to made my cheeks turn red, but after careful inspection she gave it back to me.

Mira and Lily went through security after me, turning up less than I did. Lily had a pocketknife, a packet of salt and Dean's phone number (big surprise there) in her pocket, while Mira also had some packets of salt, a handful of spare change and a picture of her family.

"Give me that back." Mira said, her voice steady as she looked at the policewoman.

"Sorry miss, after you come out we'll return all items we deem as non-dangerous to your personage."

Mira stared at her for a long time, eyes narrowed into tight little slits as her mouth opened and closed, fighting the retort I knew was bubbling up inside of her. Eventually, the guards who had been watching us throughout the process lead us away from Ms. Touchy and into the questioning room.

"So," Hendrickson now said, and he pointed to the freeze-frame on the television screen, raising his eye brow. "We got this footage from a security camera on a street in a small town, just outside of West Virginia. This photo was a clear still taken from the video. Now, do the people on the screen look familiar to you?"

I was twisted around in my seat as much as my handcuffed hand would allow, staring at the five agents standing behind us with a curious expression. When I turned around again, I leaned towards Lily. "Wow, we must be some pretty big fish to have this many guards on us."

She looked solemnly at Hendrickson and spoke out of the side of her mouth. "Now would be a good time to shut up, Ash."

"Excuse me." Hendrickson leaned across the metal table and got so close to my face I could have spat in his eye if I wasn't afraid of the guys packing heat behind me. "I asked you a question."

With a tired sigh, I lolled my head sideways so I could get a better look at the screen. Yep, there we were, just outside of the abandoned hospital where we'd killed the Pagan God. Despite the obviousness (I was wearing the same ripped jeans and faded jacket in the shot as I was in the questioning room) I shook my head slowly and sat back in my seat.

"With the crappy resolution, I really can't tell. They could be anybody."

Hendrickson's face seemed to turn a deep shade of red at my comment. "You think you're funny, don't you?"

"What makes you think I'm not being serious?"

His hands came down on the metal table so quickly and with such force that even I jumped slightly at the sound it made. "Is this all one big joke to you? This is serious business, young lady; the kind of serious business that gets your thrown in jail with all the other dead-beat women of the state. Would you like that, Ashley? Sharing a room with some girl named Ted?"

I leaned forwards in my seat, my gaze cold. "Don't call me Ashley."

"What's wrong, _Ashley_?" Hendrickson seemed pleased he'd found a weak spot in me. "You not like that name?"

"Excuse me, sir." Mira interrupted before he could say more, and before I could gnaw my hand free of the handcuff and lunge across the table to claw his face out. "But could you please explain the relevance of the photo?" I relaxed slightly in my seat, resisting the urge to smile. Thank God for Mira; she could sweet-talk our way out of this in no time.

"Don't give me any of that crap." Hendrickson's face crumpled into a look of pure disgust. "You know damn well what the relevance is. You girls were found in the possession of dozens of fake badges and forged documents, as well as some pretty freaky satanic propaganda we're still going throughThere's also piles and piles of evidence stacked against you, like Ashley here's knife. It's the exact same size and diameter as the knife that maliciously murdered the man we found in the hospital you girls are photographed heading towards. Any more questions?"

Mira looked slightly stunned that he hadn't fallen for her power of persuasion. When he continued staring her down, she shook her head and looked at her lap, growing silent instantly.

When I glanced at Lily, she was peering at the television screen closely. "Um, Hendrickson, is it?"

"What do you want?"

"I was just looking at the time this frame was captured."

Hendrickson's expression didn't change. "So?"

"So, it was taken early morning. Have you confirmed time of death yet for the murder victim?"

Unexpectedly, his lips drew back into a smug smile. "You three girls think you're so smart. Well, time of death has been released as late afternoon, around 3pm or so. And I know what you're thinking, but we've also got you photographed leaving the hospital at ten minutes past three." He picked up a remote off the metal desk, and pointed it at the television screen. With a click, it fast-forwarded a couple of hours, and then he paused it, right on the frame of the five of us (Mira, Ash, Lily, Sam, Dean and I) leaving the hospital. It was all there in black and white; Lily was even being given a piggy-back by Dean.

"This brings me to my next point." Hendrickson continued. "You were photographed with two of the most wanted men in the state outside of a murder crime scene. Now I don't know about you three, but I think that looks pretty bad."

"You're making some pretty heavy accusations based on black and white photos." I muttered under my breath.

Hendrickson surveyed me, before giving me a look of distaste and slamming down a folder in front of me.

"Ashley Elsberry." He read aloud.

"It's Ash." I interjected, but he ignored me.

"Age 23 years old, born October 11, 1984; went missing on December 25th, 1998 after running away from her parent's home in Illinois at the age of fourteen. Her parents, Elizabeth and Richard Elsberry, put out a frantic search for their daughter who had stolen the family van and gone to pursue 'Occultist interests.' She never turned up again." As he read from my bio, internally I winced, but I tried to keep a stern look.

"Yeah, yeah. I know my own backstory. What's your point?"

Hendrickson glared at me, and then pointed at the photo.

"You three are shown with two men identified to be Sam and Dean Winchester, two very wanted and very dangerous criminals wanted for murders in St. Louis, a bank hold up and murder in Milwaukie and an escape from a Baltimore prison. These two men are suspected of being linked to half a dozen other murders as well, and judging by your expressions, I'd say you know them."

He was reading our faces wrong, because I know I can't speak for Mira and Lily, but I'm sure we were all thinking the same thing; how the hell were Sam and Dean wanted for so much? Those two had quite a price over their head, and it was making us look just as bad. Clearing my throat, I forced away my shocked expression as Hendrickson perched himself on the edge of his desk and continued speaking down to us.

"There was a murdered man found in a rundown hospital right outside of West Virginia. I'll tell you, if was one of the most gruesome sights I've seen in all of my years in the force. There was blood all over the place. He was stabbed multiple times in his chest area, and in the heart. We think the Winchesters, and you girls might have been involved." I cringed a bit. I stabbed that guy more than once? Woops. And I thought Dean and Sam had cleaned up the mess. Guess not.

"In your bag." Hendrickson said as he gestured to me, "We found quite a few clothes with bloodstains, the most obvious being this." He held up the knife I had used to stab the Pagan God and tear his chest to ribbons so I could get his heart out. It was still stained pink with the remnants of his blood I couldn't clean off. A muscle in my jaw jumped slightly at the sight of it, but I quickly composed myself.

"You're sick." He spat in my direction. I rolled my eyes slightly.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones…"

Hendrickson's eye twitched, and I thought he was surely going to crack. But he swallowed once, and laughed shortly, though there was no humor behind it. "So, what are the Winchester's to your girls, huh? Family, maybe? Friends? Allies? Or are they your lovers?"

Lily's cheeks turned dark crimson, but I just laughed.

"Oh, are we _that _translucent? You caught us; we're all falling for the bad boys, the outlaws. It's just so sexy, that whole 'rebel without a cause' persona they have going."

Now Hendrickson looked pissed. Each time he thought he had something against me, something to make me break, he was proven wrong. After a moment of silence, he sat up a little straighter. "I'd like to interview you each alone now." I shook my head slightly at Mira and Lily, signifying to stay silent at all costs. Hendrickson caught this, and then motioned for them to be brought out of the room. Soon, it was just the two of us. He'd even ordered the guards to just stand outside. I wiggled in my handcuffs. Great.

"Well, well, well." He said, sitting down across from me. "So she finally turns up after nine years. Your parents would be so pleased, if you weren't behind bars."

"Look, if you're trying to make me feel guilty for running away, trust me, I don't." I twisted my wrists around in slight circles, feeling my skin growing raw from the inside of the cuffs. After a few futile rotations, I stopped.

"Well, they said you had some issues. Anger management, for one. I can see that has progressed well. Violent tendencies-"

I gave a disdainful snort. "I do not!"

"...and an obsession with the occult. Says here," Hendrickson tapped the report. "That you ran away after a fight on Christmas about how they wanted you to just be a normal; about how they threw out your many books about ghosts and demons and angels and monsters."

As he spoke, I was remembering the fight that morning, and having to watch as my mom ransacked my books shelves, pulling nearly every single book off of them and dumping them into he garbage can without any consideration towards my opinion on the matter. My face began to burn with anger; just remembering the fight was pissing me off.

"You flipped and ran off with the van. Is wanting you to be normal such a crime?" Hendrickson lowered the report to give me a small, disappointed shake of his head before continuing on reading. "It also says here your therapy was going badly. You didn't respond well to the anger management courses and wouldn't dress like the other children. And now look at you. A murderer."

I listened to him quietly, my eyes lowered on the floor.

"I know you yourself killed that man in the hospital." Hendrickson said coolly. "It was your clothes with the bloodstains, your knife that fit the stab wound. To be swept up by the Winchester's charm into doing something so terrible just makes me want to track down these boys even faster."

I let out a bark of laughter at that. "The Winchester charm? Oh man, that's a good one. No, I wasn't charmed by them." Once I calmed down I added, "And I murdered no man."

"Ah that's right." Hendrickson's eyes narrowed as he gave me an amused, mocking smile. "You all seem to be suffering under the delusion you're fighting monsters, aren't you? It does, after all, fit in with your past, and the Winchester's. I hope you'll find it comfy in prison. And so you dragged in two other poor girls, both with horrifying, violent pasts of abuse and tragedy and convinced them it was the work of the supernatural? That's low."

"You sure like to talk a lot." I said. He frowned.

"You don't understand the severity of this predicament you're in, do you?"

"I'm not too worried."

"Where are the Winchesters?" He asked, forcefully.

"I don't know." It was the truth. "We haven't spoken since West Virginia." No lies there. I figured I might as well own up to knowing them, as the photo kind of proved that anyway. Hendrickson gave me a long, hard look before lifting up a hand and rubbing at his eyes with a tired sigh.

"Get out of my sight."

I had to wait in another damn chair with my hand handcuffed to the arm rest outside his office while Lily went in to get interviewed, and then Mira. When they both emerged from where they were being held (we weren't allowed to be together whatsoever, not even between the questioning) I jumped up, forgetting about my handcuffed hand. I was propelled back down into my chair, and not the least bit scathed.

"How'd it go?"

Mira shrugged and said nothing.

"Not much happened." Lily muttered, looking over her shoulder at the agent who was keeping her from going anywhere, looking slightly annoyed as she continued. "He brought up my past, tried to get me to say I knew where Sam and Dean were and then accused me of murder."

Mira looked rather pale. He probably brought up her past as well. I bit my lip to keep from a snarl. Asshole.

Emerging from his office, Hendrickson looked tired, probably from hearing the same story three times. Bet he wasn't expecting that. "Okay ladies. Let's give you a little preview of what you're in for; guards find them a cell to keep them in for the night. Tomorrow, you'll be sent to an all-woman's penitentiary." He smiled especially smugly at me as I was lead past him, and it took everything in me not to reach out my foot and kick him between the legs.

The officers holding us pushed us along a dark corridor, past a few more offices like Hendrickson's and some open spaces where guards were sitting around tables, talking amongst one another. I felt like we should have been walking in slow motion with some badass music playing, but I also felt a sort of dreading sensation that made all of my previous joking thoughts disappear. We were actually in jail. I may act like I don't care about a lot of things, but I cross the line at sleeping in the same room you pee in. Jail cells don't agree with me.

The one we were placed inside of was completely empty; evidently, this town wasn't known for their criminal population. "You girls get nice and comfortable." One of the guards snickered as he locked the cell door, and his buddies laughed along like it was some hilarious joke.

I gave a sarcastic chuckle. "You should go into standup. Look at me; my sides are splitting."

"Have fun in there." His smug smile didn't waver, and he reached out with a baton he'd kept in the belt on his pants, giving the metal bars a light tap. "Don't let these get to you, now."

"Don't you have some doughnuts to shovel in your mouth?"

My retort did little to nothing, as he and his other officer-friends were already walking away, back down that long corridor, leaving my sisters and I alone. As soon as they were gone, Lily slumped against the cement wall, her face drawn. "We have to get out before morning."

"How?" I asked. She was the planner. I was the person who carried out the plans.

"Mira. Can you fake cry?" When Mira nodded curiously, Lily smiled. "Okay. Here's the idea."

She explained it quietly, just in case any of those officers sitting at the tables in the next room over were listening. When she was finished, Mira and I nodded, acknowledging our parts. And then, Mira stepped away from us, and took a deep breath. "Help! Oh God please someone help!" I was shocked at how real and scared it sounded. Props to her.

When there was the sound of heavy shoes making quick paced steps towards our cell, I grabbed for my necklace, and brought it as gently as I could across Lily's cheek. She cringed as she sharp edge poked into her skin, leaving a thicker trail of blood than I had anticipated behind it.

Two men on duty ran in. One was fairly brawny looking, his upper arms bulging through the fabric of his shirt, and the other was lanky, looking younger than the three of us. "Oh god!" He said, opening the cell to get a better look while the burly man waited outside.

"Please help her!" Mira said, giving her puppy dog look to the man, who looked very sympathetic. Hook, Line sinker.

In a swift movement I crouched down and stuck out my leg, turning in a quick semi-circle and knocking him out cold as he hit the ground. The other man came in and I quickly kicked him in the stomach, and then in the chin. He too was out cold when I had finished. As soon as he was down for the count, I let out a gasp, lifting my foot so I could touch my tender toe. Damn, that guy had a chest like iron.

"Hurry, we don't have a lot of time before they wake up." Lily said.

I opened and closed my hands with a smile. I was ready to fight. "Okay. They'll have back up soon. Let's get our stuff and go."

Mira suggested the ventilation system, which (she knew for a fact) acted like a pathway throughout the entire building. It took us a few minutes to unscrew the nearest vent from the wall, and it looked like a tight squeeze, but we were desperate to get out. So, sucking in every inch of us that stuck out, we clambered into the vent, and began to crawl.

We waited until we got to above the evidence room before dropping down, grabbing only our duffle bag of weapons, our duffle bag of books and some of our own personal items. I found my knife, shoved it deep inside my waist band, and then, we were ready to go. We decided to try and get out by sneaking along the back corridors as we wouldn't fit into the vents with all our stuff.

"Okay..." Lily whispered, pausing to survey the area we were standing in with frantic eyes. "The back door's down this hallway to the left. We'll have to get out, hotwire the van and drive like hell." Surprisingly, we didn't encounter anyone on our way out. I think the police were just starting to search for us as we snuck out and into our van.

There was it, waiting for us in the parking lot of the police station like they knew we would escape. Of course, that wasn't the case; I'm sure it was being kept for investigation. Oh the weapons they would have found beneath the floor in the back…

"Come on now." Mira hissed, getting in the front behind the wheel, as we all knew she was the better get-away driver than Lily or I. I drove too recklessly, and Lily drove too slow; Mira was perfect. I fit in the middle between them, and kept my eyes on the back window as we sped out of the parking lot, making sure that no one was following us. I only relaxed once we were about five miles out of town, without anything behind us.

"Where to now?" Mira asked, keeping her eyes on the road as she spoke. She was on the lookout for any police cruisers wanting to cut us off.

Lily examined the map she held, and then pointed at it. "There's a hotel about three miles from here. We can stay there until we figure out our next move." I would have much rather we got the hell as far away from that town as possible, which meant driving through the night until morning. But we were all tired, and it was getting dark. So, reluctantly, I nodded.

"Okay. Hotel it is."

* * *

><p>The next day, we took every precaution possible to make sure we wouldn't get caught by the FBI again. Our truck was parked in a woodsy area near the hotel, hidden by thick brush and trees. Inside the hotel, we closed all of the curtains, and kept the door locked, leaving a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on the handle so no maids would be poking inside.<p>

We didn't sleep much, like I had anticipated we would when we checked into the hotel. In fact, most of the night consisted of us sitting up in our beds like the undead, staring with hard eyes at the door like at any minute, the FBI were going to barge in again. Every time there was a noise, like a car door, or people talking, I'd grab for my knife, Mir and Lily their own weapons, and we would wait for whatever we thought would come into our room. Of course, we always felt foolish when nothing did. But that didn't stop us from doing the same thing when we thought we heard something again.

It was about mid-afternoon, when the sun was fully in the sky and our nerves were about as high when Lily's cell phone rang. Since I was sitting closest to it, I recovered from my near-heart attack, and answered it cautiously. "Hello?"

The voice on the other end was Dean's, and he sounded frantic. "Lily?"

"No, it's Ash. What's wrong?"

"Have you girls seen Sammy? He's gone and we can't find him anywhere."

Across the room, Lily and Mira were giving me curious looks. "It's Dean." I mouthed, and Lily's face grew pink at once. She stood up and held out her hand for her phone. When I gave it to her, she cleared her throat and spoke quickly.

"Dean? It's Lily. What's going on?"

He explained the same thing to her as he had with me. She looked at Mira out of the corner of her eye automatically before flickering gaze. "Where do you think he could be? Alright, give me the address, and we'll be right over. How long has he been gone?" Her eyes looked distant, like she was thinking about something. And then, they went wide. "You think it's the demon? Wait for us before going out to find him; we'll be there as soon as we can."

She spoke so quickly that Mira and I were unable to follow what she was saying. When she hung up, Lily turned quickly, and looked at us. "Sam's missing, but they think they know where to find him."

"Missing?" Mira repeated, her face going pale.

"Yeah, but don't worry; we'll find him."

We hadn't unpacked anything since our arrival, so leaving was easy. I just wished she would tell us where we were going. Half way to the van, I couldn't take it anymore. "Come on, Lily. Don't hold back on us. Where is Sam?"

"Sam's in Cold Oak." She answered. "But Dean is in South Dakota. And that's exactly where we're going, too."


	10. Ten Ash

10. Ash

I was never one for long car rides. Ironic, I know, since I spend about fifty or so hours a month driving all around the country. But honestly, I hate being cramped in a van for long periods of time, especially if Lily is driving, since she likes to go the equivalent of turtle speed so we get nowhere fast.

"Mind hurrying up a bit?" Mira asked with a slight edge to her voice. I knew she was anxious about finding Sam, and quick. "We don't need to make this a road-trip."

Lily shot her a dirty look "Are you the one driving?"

"No, but-"

"Then shut up."

Car rides did different things to the each of us; I got dizzy, Mira got fidgety, and Lily got annoyed. She didn't like driving as much as we didn't like her to, but she was the one Dean had given the direction to, so she was the one who drove. Twelve times on the highway, I asked her if I could take a turn, just to see to it that we got to South Dakota before we all turned seventy, but she was stern on her being the one to handle the wheel. And when Lily wants to do something, she doesn't listen to reasoning.

We were on our second day of driving when Lily suddenly took an exit off of the highway, rumbling onto a road filled with potholes and pebbles. "Are we there?" Mira asked, gripping onto the dashboard as the van's left front right tire sank into a hole and popped back out again, rattling all of us inside.

Lily didn't reply; when I looked at her, her eyes were darting between the houses on either side of the road, murmuring quietly to herself. I didn't have to know the number of the house to figure out which we were pulling into. When she turned, I was already taking off my seat belt, ready to get out. The biggest hint was the black impala sitting in the driveway. This was where we were supposed to be.

The house was cluttered with old cars, trucks, and vans, all rusted and collecting dust around it. Getting out of our own van, I stretched my legs and started at the collection, wondering just where the hell we were. Some sort of impound, maybe? "Hey Lily?"

"Yeah?" she closed the driver side door and began a brisk paced-walk towards the porch.

"Where are we?"

When she said nothing, I exchanged annoyed looks with Mira (it seemed Lily was keeping a lot of secrets from us, lately) and then we followed her up the steps of the porch. She rapped her knuckles against the wooden door, seeming to be in a rush. "Jeez, Lil, would you calm down?" I muttered. "If they're in here, they aren't going anywhere."

It was Sam who answered the door.

"Well, looks like Dean found you." I said when I saw him, giving an exaggerated sigh and an eye roll.

He looked from me, to Mira, who was standing off to the side of the porch looking relieved to see him. "Hi." He said, and she opened her mouth to reply when he was roughly pushed aside. An older man with a dark, rough looked beard, dressed in a plaid shirt and a faded green vest, as well as a worn out baseball cap. He narrowed his eyes at the three of us, obviously not being one to trust strangers very well.

Lily stepped forward cautiously. "I'm Lily, and this is Mira, and Ash. We're hunters."

"You three? Aren't you girls a little young to be hunters?"

It could have been from the long ride, and the fact that we showed up all of this way to find that Sam was there, but something inside of me snapped, and I stepped in front of Lily with a dark glower. "Hey, I did not just drive two days straight to have some old guy with a stick up his ass tell me who I can and can't be. We are _hunters_, and I bet we've been hunting longer than you think. Now if you would please bring Sam back so we could talk to him, because up until five minutes ago, he was supposedly missing, and that's making me want to ask him some things."

The man blinked at me, clearly faltering at how quick I'd been to defend myself.

"She's right." Sam said, squeezing in between him and the doorframe to give me a small smile. "They took care of a demon a while back, and we worked together on a pagan god together before. They know their stuff, Bobby. Let them in."

I appreciated him saying "together" rather than something about how we'd called, begging for them to come help us, especially after Lily played "damsel in distress".

"Bobby" looked at each of our faces carefully before stepping back and opening up the door more, letting us inside. His house was a mess, and not the sort of mess like clothes on the floor and dishes in the sink. No, this mess was the sort I'm sure we would have if we stuck around in one place for long enough. There were papers (lots of papers) tacked onto every inch of the walls, some being maps while others looked like notes he had scribbled down and put up. Thick, brown covered books were stacked high on desks and the floors, each looking as worn as the last like they'd had their fair sure of reading.

And then the weapons! He must have had weapons everywhere!

Knives, revolvers, shotguns, crossbows; every weapon imaginable was in this guy's house. I felt so oddly comfortable that I actually smiled at the man I snapped at moments before. A real, genuine smile, too. "You've got a great knife collection."

He nodded gruffly, and got three beers from a fridge in a room off of the foyer. When he handed us each one, Lily shook her head politely.

"That's right." A voice came from what I guessed to be the den, just a few feet away from us. "I forgot you didn't drink."

Dean appeared from the darken room, grinning from ear to ear. When Lily saw him, her eyes lowered onto the ground and her cheeks coloured. I made a mental note to give her some confidence pointers later on, but for the time being, there were other things that needed my attention.

"Why did you call us here if you found Sam already?"

Dean dragged his gaze from Lily onto me, his smile faltering slightly. "Well we didn't think it'd take you so long to get here."

"It was a two day drive, Dean. Bite my ass. So why didn't you call once you found him to tell us our services we no longer needed?"

His smile now fully gone, Dean swallowed and made a face, like he'd tasted something disgusting. "Well, we need your help. Sam was kidnapped by the yellow eyed demon, because..." he trailed off, looking between us and his brother with a helpless shrug. "It's kind of a long story."

We sat down in the den as Dean and Sam filled us in. In the span of a little less than an hour, we were left to digest a brief explanation on their past, as well as what happened with Sam in the few days he'd been gone. When they had finished, I felt full to the brim of information. All they'd told us…it was a lot to take in, especially the part about the previous day's events.

"Wow." Mira said quietly, looking very sympathetic toward the Winchesters and their pasts.

Sam was looking at the floor, probably remember all he'd told us. "Tell me about it."

"So, this colt. Do we have it?" I asked, trying to stay on target.

"No." Dean's jaw locked. "The demons do."

A knock on the door interrupted us. Bobby stood up slowly from the couch and crossed the room, opening it to reveal a drained looking Ellen. Seeing her made me remember a certain dark point in the story we'd just heard, about her bar being burned to the ground with hunters, as well as Ash the second inside.

Without saying anything to any of us, Ellen fell into the chair across from the couch we sat one, looking ten years older than she was. I noticed that she was carrying with her a light brown folder, stuffed with papers, but I didn't dare ask about them. Not until she looked ready.

After Bobby gave her a drink, she showed us the data Ash the second was working on before he was...killed. I could hardly believe it. He was dead, just like that.

This yellow eyed bastard needed to die.

Dean spread out the map Ash the second had been tracking, and both he and Lily fell over top of it, trying to follow the man's train of thought. After a moment's observations, Lily straightened up to look over at Mira and I. "A 100 mile devil's trap."

I snorted. "Yeah right. That's impossible, Lil."

"No, it's not. Look." She pointed to the map, her finger trailing across the surface slowly so I could keep up. "When Samuel Colt built his churches in Wyoming, he connected them all with railways. See the pattern, Ash?" When her finger stopped, I did. The tracks made the shape of a pentagram, each point being a different church on the map.

"Holy crap." I breathed, because it actually _was _a hundred mile devil's trap.

"And there." Dean poked the middle of the paper. "Is a cemetery."

I was still staring at the map as he spoke, and then I lifted my head sharply, having remembered a certain point of the story we had been told. ""If there's something so big it needs that huge of a devil's trap and the colt is the key, why does the yellow eyed demon need that psychic kid?"

"That's it; he can't do it himself. He needs to send in Jake." Sam explained, eyes focused on the map. After a moment's thought, he looked up at us again, wearing the look of someone who ha just realized something huge. "And If we can intercept him before he gets there-"

"We get the colt." Dean finished for him, already on his feet. "Let's go."

The cemetery was one of those that made your skin crawl as you walked through it, especially at night time. It had tall, black gates right at the back of it, and was hidden deep inside a gloomy forest, where the owls hooted and the grass was tall; perfect for a cemetery location. What shocked me the most, though, was learning that the gates to hell itself were in this very cemetery. Such a settling thought…

"Well, we've been here for quite some time now." I said quietly, fiddling with my shot gun. I'd needed a long range weapon, and my knife wouldn't cut it. I didn't care for guns, but hey, it was better than nothing.

Around me, everyone had settled into their positions, watching for this "Jake" person to show up with the colt. I was slightly nervous about Ellen joining us at first. She was still pretty shaken up from losing Ash the second, as well as her bar and the people in it. But I knew that was fuelling her fire, and we could count on her to be part of the battle (if needed) against this yellow eyed son of a bitch.

Bobby pressed his finger to his lips as we heard a car door shut.

Showtime.

The gates of the cemetery were pushed open, letting out their moans from the movement as Jake stepped through, his head swivelling around to examine his new surroundings. He walked forwards with the stride of a man with a purpose, one hand stuck inside his jacket pocket while the other hung limp at his side, holding the colt.

Jake walked right by the headstone Dean was hidden behind, and I watched as Dean slowly manoeuvred himself out of sight with Jake's path until he was on the opposite side of the stone. I held my breath, fingers twitching on the barrel of my gun as I watched Jake approach the tomb, or rather, the gates to hell. I looked to Sam to see if he was ready to reveal himself yet, only to find that he had stepped away from the stone he was hiding behind, and held up his gun in front of his face.

"Howdy, Jake."

Taking this as our cue, Mira, Lily, myself, Bobby, Ellen and Dean all revealed ourselves as well, all of us pointing our guns directly at him. The funny thing was, that despite all of these hunters prepared to shoot him, Jake was only looking at one person; Sam.

"I…I killed you!"

_Killed_? I glanced at Dean out of the corner of my eye. That hadn't been part of the story; he said Sam had been wounded.

"You almost did." Dean said quickly, too quickly, I noted.

Jake was shaking his head, looking absolutely stunned. "I sliced through the spinal cord! There's no way-"

Okay, now I wasn't the only one looking at Dean. Sam looked suspicious too.

Bobby cleared his throat gruffly and stepped forward, motioning at the gun in Jake's hand and ordering him to drop the gun, or else we would all shoot. Nice and simple; good man. Seeming to have collected himself slightly, Jake looked from Sam, to Bobby, smirking slightly.

"Threatening me? Well, I've learned a few new tricks." Without warning, Jake's eyes focused right on me. "You; put your gun to your head."

I didn't even hesitate. "Okay."

As soon as I felt the cool metal of my gun's barrel pressed against my temple, I realized what he had made me do and felt my breath hitch. I had to keep calm, though. One sign of weakness and he might make me shoot. "Oh you piece of shit." I cussed darkly, and then looked to the rest of our group wildly. "Don't you guys dare lower your guns!" I tried to lower my gun, but it was like my arm had turned to stone; I couldn't move it at all.

"Now," Jake said, turning away from me with a satisfied smile, "If you don't want this pretty little lady to blow out her brains, put down your guns on the ground in front of you."

I fidgeted on the spot, feeling a slight sweat start in the middle of my back. "Don't do it! Let him shoot me, goddammit, and you kill that yellow eyed-son of a bitch!" Despite my protests, each and every one of them dropped their guns onto the ground, and then held up their hands defensively, showing them they had done what he'd said. Okay, so maybe I was a bit relieved that they did.

Jake turned away from us and headed up the steps to the gates, raising the hand that held the colt. He stuck the barrel into the mausoleum door, just as I felt my finger moving toward the trigger of the gun. Oh crap… Dean lunged and brought the palm of his hand underneath my elbow, forcing my arm upwards so rather than shooting my brains out, I shot into the night sky.

Jake turned at the gun shot, and received several of his own in the shoulder from Sam, who'd picked up his gun and aimed it at him once the colt started rotating in the door. Jake crumpled to the ground just as the gates opened up wide like the cover of a book, and a dark cloud of souls crawled out of the pit, their tortured demonic voices ringing out in the night.

Mira and Lily rushed up instantly, side-stepping Jake's lifeless body to brace their hands on either doors, and tried to push them closed again. Bobby, Ellen and I came to help them, but Dean and Sam hung back. As I pushed, I looked over my shoulder and saw that there was a third figure standing amongst the graves.

My fingers slipped from the door slightly as I realized it was the man with the yellow eyes.

"Focus, Ash!" Bobby barked, his face growing red with the exertion. "Close the damn door!"

I wanted to see what was going on behind us, but this was far more important. Using everything I had in me (every muscle, every bone, every single ounce of strength I could summon) I pushed all of my weight against the door. Slowly, oh-so-slowly, it nudged forwards, and eventually closed, sealing off the gates to hell once again.

Lily looked exhausted, leaning against the doors as she fought to catch her breath. "Dean!" She reached out a limp arm and snatched the colt from its place in the door, tossing it to where he stood in the middle of the cemetery. He caught it, but a soon as he did, the yellow eyed man snatched it away without even reaching for it.

"Boys shouldn't play with daddy's guns." He sneered, and then sent Dean flying backwards into a headstone, as well as Sam into a tree.

"Dean!" Lily cried out, as he lay limp on the ground, unmoving.

The yellow eyed man looked at her, and gave a small shake of his head. "This guy, I swear he's got a bigger fan club than any rock star in the world." Turning his head away again, he flicked his wrist, and Lily was pressed up against the mausoleum. She grunted in pain.

"You stay away from her!" Dean roared, struggling to his feet and wiping at the blood that was dripping from a cut on his forehead, into his eyes.

"Oh you didn't like that? How about this?"

Beside me, Mira flew backwards with a shriek, landing against the wall next to Lily. My eyes darkened and I saw red. Slowly, I began to walk down the steps, unsure what I was going to do but knowing damn-well I wasn't going to just stand around while-

"Or maybe this?"

It was as if a hand had grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, yanking me off my feet and pinning me onto the wall. I grunted, feeling an insane amount of pressure in my chest. I struggled against the invisible force holding me there, but I couldn't move. "Damn it!"

Head stones were obscuring my vision. I couldn't see what was going on. But I could hear, and there was a loud scuffle occurring, in which at one point, a bright white light was the only thing I could see. I closed my eyes at the force of it, and then when I opened them again, a shot rang out through the cemetery. Slowly, I slid down the wall, as well as Lily and Mira. We were free. And the yellow eyed man was dead.

"What was that?" Mira asked breathlessly, blinking at the spot where the bright light had been.

Bobby looked like he had seen a ghost. "That was John Winchester."

Guess I was right.

Sam and Dean were staring at the body of the yellow eyed man, lying on the ground with a bullet wound blossoming on his chest, right over his heart. "I can't believe it." Sam breathed, raising his head to look at where the five of us remained standing, watching them. "It's finally over."

"Over?" Bobby repeated with a stunned, shake of his head. "Boy, it's just begun."

* * *

><p>We spent the next few days at Bobby's with Sam and Dean. It took him those days to summon the courage, but Dean finally admitted to us that he hadn't healed Sam; he'd made a deal and brought him back from the dead. Lily, pale faced, asked how much time he was given.<p>

"One year." Dean whispered, looking down at his hands. "I've got one year before I'm sent to hell."

Sam vowed that he was going to find a way to get him out of the deal, but Dean just shakily smiled and said nothing. I knew it as much as he did; these deals were seal-tight. Nothing could break them. Later, as we packed up to go our separate ways, I cornered Dean in the front yard when we were alone.

"You know, what you did for Sam was-"

"Dumb." He interjected with a tired sigh. "So what now? Are you going to call me an idiot, or scold me?"

I watched him load his bags into the trunk of the impala for a moment, and when he pulled back, waiting for me to answer, I just shook my head. "No. It wasn't dumb, and you aren't an idiot. I would have done the exact same thing for Mira, or Lily."

He squinted at me through the sun, and then held out one of his hands. We shook quietly, a silent understand passing between us before he let go again.

"You're not such a bad hunter, you know. Even if you are unusually short."

I rolled my eyes. "Did you have to ruin the good moment?"

"It was getting too serious for my taste; had to spice things up again."

"Bitch."

He was already started towards the house again, and turned around to flash me a wide grin. "That's what I say." He disappeared inside to find Lily, leaving me outside alone, smiling to myself. As much as I hated him sometimes, Lily was lucky to have found someone like him. My smile faltered slightly. Now if only I could do the same…


	11. Eleven Mira

11. Mira

"So," I said, "I guess this is good-bye again, huh?"

Sam lifted an armful of the weapons Ash had so nicely left around Bobby's house into the van, and drew back to look at me. He'd offered to help me load up the van, but I think it was just so that we could be alone. Bobby's house wasn't terribly big, and lately, it seemed we were always with someone. It was never just us. So I was glad when he offered, because that meant we could be alone, if only for a little while.

"For now." Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair anxiously. "Knowing our luck, we'll run into each other again."

I could see something in his eyes, the sadness that made the smile he flashed look strained. He continued pushing his bangs out of his face, a worried habit I was just growing to notice. Without thinking, I put my hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "Don't worry. We'll find a way to help Dean. It'll be okay." I hoped my words would put his mind at ease slightly. I was worried as well; worried about Dean, and about how upset Sam had been recently, ever since he found our about Dean's deal.

"I know." His voice sounded tight, and when he looked at me again, his eyes were filled with determination and passion.

My heart skipped a beat. I turned around and closed the doors of the van, pressing my hands against the doors in an attempt to calm myself. It took a moment, but I rid the blood rushing to my face, and managed to slow the pace of my heart enough to return my attention to Sam confidently.

Without any warning whatsoever, Sam reached out and placed his hand on the curve of my spine, drawing me into a hug. My face just reached his shoulder. For a moment, I was frozen, my arms flat against my sides. But then the initial shock disappeared, and I hugged him back equally tight, feeling his face pressing into my hair.

All too soon, Sam pulled away. "Thanks, Mira."

Sometimes, if you're with the right person, feelings can be shared without words. And standing there, staring right into his eyes, I felt like we had both transferred all that needed to be shared between us, and we'd both received what was needed to be felt.

Ash came out of Bobby's house, her arms full of books he had graciously loaned to us, and began down the steps towards the van. As she neared it, she peered around the stack of hard covers, and noticed Sam and I standing there. She rolled her eyes. "Break it up, children. We've got to go."

I smiled sheepishly at Sam. "I guess I'd better get going."

"Yeah." He was still staring at me, making me wish I could stand there for just a few minutes longer…

"_Mira_!" Ash sounded annoyed, tossing the books into the passenger door of the van, and then slamming it closed, turning on me with a glower. "Tick tock!" she tapped an invisible watch on her wrist, and I fought the strong urge to tell her to shut up.

I turned back to Sam. "So, uh, see you around?"

"Definitely."

I backed away from Sam, waving awkwardly before I rounded the corner of Bobby's house where I figured Lily was. I stopped short, just in front of the yard of junk cars, spotting the Impala parked amongst the rust and metal mess. Lily was on the hood, tucking a strand of hair behind her hair nervously. And there beside her was Dean.

"Just be careful." I heard her saying, and nearly gasped as Dean picked up one of her hands in his own, grinning. Lily was being serious, of course, but she immediately turned red at his touch. I was surprised to see that she didn't pull her hand away, instead letting Dean hold it like it was a usual gesture they shared.

"I got it, silly-Lily."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm serious, Dean. We're going to help you…and we're going to do it without Sam getting hurt."

At once, Dean's grin fell, and his face became solemnly serious. "Lily, don't. I don't want to see you getting all mixed up in this. It's my problem. I made the deal, I gave up my soul, and I'm the one who's going to have to deal with it. Not you."

"We already are a part of this." Lily said quietly.

"Yeah well you might want to get out now."

She looked hurt. "Don't you get it? I…_we_ care about you."

I watched her cheeks flush at her slip, and Dean must have caught it too, because his shoulders straightening slightly and his grin reappeared on his face as he arched an eye brow. Lily looked away nervously, and began to slide her hand from Dean's, who used his other arm to grab it and keep it in place. Leaning forward, he gently tucked some of her hair away from her face, and whispering something quietly in her ear, something that made her going beet red.

It was when Dean pulled away again that Lily noticed me standing in front of them awkwardly, unsure whether or not to leave, since I was supposed to bring her with me. In a flash, she took her hand from Dean's, smiling nervously.

Dean looked at me. "Oh, hey there, Mira. Sorry if I was keeping your sister."

He slid down the length of the hood and onto the ground, turning so that he could help Lily down as well. When they were both standing, he looked at me out of the corner of his eye before whispering to my sister, "Don't forget what I said; that's a promise. And I always keep my promises."

Lily nodded quickly, and said, "Good-bye, Dean" before hurrying to join me on our walk back to the van. I tried to measure the look on her face, to see if I could tell what he had said to her. But she kept her eyes straight ahead and lips pursed, like she knew I was trying and was determined not to let me into her brain. I finally caved in, right when we neared the van.

"What did he say to you?"

"Why were you watching us?"

I opened the door of the passenger side, giving her an annoyed look. "I asked you first."

"It was nothing. Can we just go?"

I knew I wasn't going to find out, even if I pestered her all the way to our next destination. Lily may be shy, but she's not one for spilling secrets easily. Reluctantly, I let go of the subject, and clambered into the van, Lily following behind me and closing the door.

Ash was behind the wheel, sorting through some cassettes that Dean had loaned to her. They were all old 80's rock. Picking one, she stuck it inside the player, and an electric guitar filled the van. I cringed, feeling my temples pounding.

"Must we?" I asked, and Ash slid her sun glasses onto her face without looking at me.

"Yes, we must."

As she stared up the car, and we pulled out of Bobby's driveway, I looked out Lily's window, and saw Sam, Bobby, and Dean all standing on the porch, watching us. Lily was staring at Dean, her eyes seeming pained. We're going to save Dean, I told myself silently, if it's the last thing we do.

* * *

><p>In a café just outside of South Dakota, not three hours after we left Bobby's, we got wind of a new case. I had suggested we pull over, because I was absolutely starving. I ordered our drinks, and when I returned to the table, Ash and Lily were talking quietly to each other. They saw me standing there, and immediately fell quiet, taking their drinks without a word. I sat down with narrowed eyes darting between them suspiciously.<p>

"So Mira," Ash said, tossing an amused look at Lily, "you and Sam, huh?"

I nearly choked on the sip from my coffee I'd taken, and composed myself. "I don't know what you're-"

"Sure you don't."

"-talking about"

Ash looked like she was going to continue pestering me when Lily, who'd returned her attention to her laptop, suddenly spoke up. "I found an article." She turned her laptop slightly, angling it so that both Ash and I could see what the screen said. Even still, she summarized it loud quietly, making sure no one else in the café could hear her.

"Children are just killing other children. There's no reasoning or warning. And then afterwards, when the kids are questioned, they all say the same thing. They don't remember what happened, or why." Lily paused, and looked up at Ash and I, her eye brows raised curiously. "You guys thinking demons?"

"Sounds like it." I said, taking a sip from my coffee again and staring at the screen.

"What a sick bastard."

For the second time, I choked on hot coffee going down my throat, and turned to stare incredulously at Lily. Her retort had been spat with such hate, it made a few older people in the table across from ours stop their conversation to gape at her.

"Are…are you okay, Lily?" I asked, exchanging a confused look with Ash.

"It's nothing." She muttered darkly, pulling her laptop back in front of her. "Just…this stupid demon."

Ash shrugged at me, and put her coffee cup down on the table. "Okay. Well, any correlation between the kids?"

"They all go to the same school." Lily answered, eyes scanning the article again. "Other than that, none. The first used a pencil to stab another child to death. The second used a fork he brought from home to stab a child's eyes out and the third bludgeoned a kid to death with a rock. Well, I guess there's another correlation; all three murders happened during recess."

There was no warning when she suddenly jumped up from her chair, and slammed her laptop closed, tucking it under her arm and stalking out of the café. The noise had made almost every head in the place turn, but Ash and I weren't worried about the unnecessary attention; we were worried about Lily.

Forgetting about our drinks on the table, we hurried out the door after her to find her standing against the van, one hand over her eyes, taking deep, shuddering breaths. "Lily?" I asked, slowing my brisk pace as we neared her. When I reached out, she pushed away from the van and climbed into the driver's side.

"What are you doing?" Ash asked, seeming reluctant to get in with Lily behind the wheel.

Her hands gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles were white and protruding. "I'm not doing anything. We're going to the school to find this damn demon for it possesses any more kids." Something flashed in her eyes. I don't know what was making her like this, but it was messing with her common sense; something you really needed to keep in tack when hunting the sort of things we did.

"Lily, be reasonable. We can't just jump into the school and find the demon! We don't know who it's going to possess next! There's no pattern!"

"Okay, well you stay here then, Mira, and try and figure out a pattern while I go kill the god-damn thing. Sound good?"

I knew this wasn't Lily talking; it was her anger. All the same, my face darkened and I began chewing on the inside of my cheek, fighting the sharp retort that was crawling up my throat. Behind me, Ash sighed, and moved to climb into the middle of the van. "She's right, Mira. We can't waste any time. We'll go to the school, check it out, and see where we're at then."

Both she and Lily were watching me, waiting for me to get in as well. When I looked at Lily, she was still gripping the wheel, but her tensed shoulders had at least relaxed slightly. She was calming down. With a sigh, I fell into the passenger's seat, and slammed the door shut. "Fine. We get in and out. No killing children unless we know for sure they're possessed…got it, Ash?"

"You've got a sick sense of humor."

Lily put the car into drive, and pulled out of the café parking lot, and then onto the main road. I was surprised at the speed we were travelling at. Usually, Lily drove slower than a tractor. But as we headed towards the school, she was practically speeding. Twice I had to tell her to slow down, especially when we passed a police station going 90mph.

When we finally reached the school, Ash and Lily clambered out to go and gather the needed weapons from the back while I riffled through the dashboard. I was trying to find some badges that would suit the situation. FBI? No, I tossed them back in with a shake of my head; too overdone. Homeland security? Nope… I saw the small, white laminated cards that we hardly ever used, and picked them up with a small smile. Health inspectors. Perfect.

I showed the badges to Lily and Ash, who each took one. I looked at our clothes (jeans, old tee-shirts) and realized that we were going to have to go into costume for this one. Lily found us some pencil skirts and cardigans in the trunk we kept hidden in the back of the van, to which Ash grimaced. She wore pleated pants instead, although I noticed she still grimaced uncomfortably as the three of us walked up to the elementary school.

Inside, I was hit with the familiar, but long since forgotten smells of childhood. The hallway enveloped us in a sweet aroma-mix of fresh paint, disinfectants, as well as coffee lofting from the teacher's lounge just a few doors away. I instantly felt younger, like I was back in my own school, playing with my friends, living life oblivious to the evil that was in it.

A cluster of children were gathered by a classroom door, just to the left of us. A couple of the younger girls, with bright, eager eyes and toothy grins looked at us with a sort of curiosity than only people they're age had. I stared back at them with my own smile, amazed at how wondrous life must have been when I was that young, too. Lily and Ash didn't know this, but before becoming a hunter, I'd been studying to be an elementary school teacher.

"God damn kids everywhere." Ash muttered, scowling at them without the same opinion as I had towards children. A young boy, who couldn't have been older than 5 and taller than my hip, came bounding down the hallway with a large backpack, and nearly ran into Ash. She sighed impatiently.

"Can we just get this over with?"

We started towards the principal's office, located at the very end of the hall with a frosted window and dark black lettering that read, "Mr. O'Donnell." My footsteps slowed as I looked over my shoulder at one of the classrooms to my left, seeing that the door was open. When I looked inside, I could see that it was probably a first grade class, filled with short little children who all spoke at once and each had a story of its own importance to tell. On the wall outside the door, there was a bulletin board that show cased a dozen or so pained hand prints, all varying in size and color. I felt my heart pinch slightly when I saw a tall, young looking woman herding the children to their seats. If things had been different, could I have been her, somewhere else?

I sighed, and looked away, turning my attention to Lily. As we stopped in front of the principal's office, her face remained hard, and unreadable; she was driven, and there was no point asking any questions as to why. Instead, I decided to try and lighten the mood. "This feeling familiar to you, Ash?"

She rolled her eyes, reaching out to knock on the door. "Bite me. I was never in the principal's office…much…"

The door opened, cutting her short. An old, weary looking man peered at us with narrowed, tired eyes. "May I help you women?" we showed him our badges to which he gave a slight sigh before smiling pleasantly. "Health inspectors, huh? I didn't know we were due for an inspection."

"We-" I began, but Lily interjected sharply.

"We're investigating the health status of the school yard and this building. The police wanted to make sure there weren't any chemical leaks, etcetera."

"Well," Mr. O'Donnell said, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. "by all means, do your job. I'll be here when you're done, if you have any questions."

Lily nodded curtly, and then ushered us away when he closed his door again. A bell rang throughout the hallway, and all of the doors that had been opened before were now closed. It was dead quiet. "Guess its snack time." Ash mumbled, and then she stuck her hands inside her pants pockets with a shrug. "Let's get to work."

We found the doors that lead to the school yard, and covered as much ground as we could. Our EMF's swept across the yard, searching for traces of sulphur. I kept tossing curious glances towards the high windows of the buildings, able to see the odd student peering curiously out at us. I'd smile, and they'd smile back. At one point, I stopped searching and straightened up, waving at a young girl with pigtails that was eager to show me her Barbie's that she pressed up against the window, one-by-one.

"There's sulphur here," Ash said, and I spun around to look at her casually. "And there's EMF. But it's not very high ratings."

Lily's face was grim. "I don't get it. It's clearly a demon. So why are the ratings so low?"

Just then, the same bell than went off in the hallway about an hour before rang again. The doors we'd come out of pushed open, and a cloud of students eager for recess piled out. We quickly hid our EMF detectors, and Ash stared at them with a reluctant sigh. "Great."

"Time to go." Lily said, already heading to where the van remained parked.

Ash and I followed close behind. While I was walking, arms wound around my legs. I stumbled for a moment and then caught my balance, turning around to see who had a hold of me. It was the young girl with the pigtails. She grinned up at me, looking absolutely radiant.

"Hi." I said.

"Hi. Wanna play a game?"

I looked over my shoulder where Ash and Lily were still making their way towards the van, and then I crouched down eye-level with the little girl. "What kind of game did you have in mind?" she didn't answer; instead, she reached out two sticky little hands and grabbed mine, leading me away from my sisters and towards the jungle gym I'd just traced for sulphur and EMF ratings.

She'd collected all of her Barbie's that had been shown to me through the window, and lined them up neatly on the bottom of a shiny, plastic blue slide. "You be Chelsea." She said, handing me one with dark brown hair and a pink dress. "She's my favourite, but you can play her. I'll be Kenzie."

I smiled, holding the Barbie in my hands and stroking her smooth hair. "Thank you. What are we playing?"

Before the girl could answer, someone screamed. I was on my feet instantly, dropping Chelsea back down onto the slide with the rest of the Barbie's. I could see a crowd of students gathered in a circle not too far from me. I looked to yell at Lily and Ash, but they were already running back towards us, Ash ditching the heels we'd made her wear in the dirt on the way.

The three of us pushed through the crowd of students, and revealed a girl with dark red hair, who was repeatedly kicking a boy much smaller than her in the ribs. He was curled up in the fetal position, screaming for her to stop. I reached out my hands to pull her off, but she turned quickly, like she'd sensed my movements, and aimed a kick right in my stomach. I gasped and fell backwards, clutching at my torso and wincing in pain. Damn she was strong. That was no little girl.

Ash was quick to catch her from behind, grabbing both of her arms and twisting them around her back as Lily hissed, "Egredere de demon carina foetidum." The little girl continued writing in Ash's hold, and suddenly, her head tipped back and she screamed a blood curdling scream as a thick black cloud flew from her mouth. When it was all out, disappearing into the sky, she fell limp in Ash's arms, her eyes closed.

The boy she'd been kicking struggled to his feet, blood dripping from his lip and his shirt ripped open, showing the blue bruises that flowered on his pale skin. He looked at the little girl Ash was laying down on the ground with an awkward grimace, and then to me, still struggling to get up. He began to back away, yelling for some teacher he called, "Ms. Freedom."

"Come on." Lily said, looking down at the little girl with a sadden expression. "We'll come back tomorrow."

Both and Ash helped me to my feet. Once I was standing, I swallowed the grunt of pain that threatened to spill out of my mouth, and hobbled with them back to the van. We were all wearing the same, shocked expressions. What kind of a world was this, where innocent children were being possessed to kill others?

"You know," I said, wincing as I slid into the van. "I think this is our saddest case in a while."

Ash and Lily nodded in agreement.


	12. Twelve Mira

12. Mira

"That's the fourth possession in four days." Lily sighed, once we were safely in a hotel room and away from the elementary school. "That means there's going to be another tomorrow." She sat erect on the couch, bowed over her laptop and re-reading the articles about the children. After a moment of silence, Lily groaned, and put her face in her hands. "I don't understand! There's no correlation!"

Across the room, Ash and I were sorting through the duffel bag of weapons. She had her nose in a book about demonic possessions, flipping through the pages without much interest. Obviously she was coming up empty handed. I was about to reach for another book myself when I thought of something.

"Hey, try the school records."

Lily looked angry at herself for not thinking of it first, and then typed quickly, searching up the school. As she worked, I lay back down on my bed gingerly, cringing at the pain in my stomach. I wasn't particularly excited to be going back to the school, but I knew we had a job to do. Besides, the way Lily was acting told me she wasn't about to give up. I don't know what made her so enthused about this case, but the fact was that we needed to catch the demon before it killed another child. We hadn't been able to finish the exorcism on it today before it fled.

"Oh my God!" Lily gasped, staring wide-eyed at her computer. "How didn't we think of this before?"

Ash and I ran over to her, and looking at the screen as well. All I saw were columns of black numbers and letters. Apparently, Ash didn't see much more either. "Uh, what is it, Lily?"

"All of those kids had music class in the same room. They were at the same time of the day, but once a day."

I smiled. "One class a day, one possession a day."

"Exactly. At least now we know where to look."

* * *

><p>The next day, we came back to the elementary school and gathered at the front of a music class filled with fourth graders. Lily explained to them why we were there, just in case any felt the need to question us. We'd already been asked by four different people when they entered the room to find us standing there, and it was getting tiring, repeating the same story.<p>

"So," Lily was saying, smiling at the students who stared back at her with dazed expressions. "We just think some panelling may be loose in the back, which we'll be inspecting through your class. Just carry on like you usually would. Pretend we aren't even here." She paused, and looked at Ash before coughing loudly at the same time Ash said,

"Christo."

No one flinched, or moved, or showed any signs of demonic possession. One girl actually said, "bless you". I fought a sigh, and followed my sisters to the back of the room where we stood awkwardly, unsure what to do. After ten minutes or so, the teacher instructed her students to pick up their instruments and play.

Ash grimaced, clapping her hands over her eyes. "Oh God, it sounds like a cat getting run over repeatedly. Make it stop!"

"Maybe we're wrong." I said, scanning the class of children again worriedly. "Maybe this isn't the right correlation."

Just then, the door to the music room opened, and the horrible music stopped as a little girl came in, grinning from ear to ear all too widely. She handed her teacher a late slip, and then sat down at an empty seat in the flute section. Ash and Lily looked away, uninterested, but something about this little girl had me suspicious. Without waiting for anyone to cough subtly, I whispered, "Christo."

As if something had pinched her, the girl sat up abruptly, her eyes zeroing in on me. The pupils were full and black. Definitely a demon. "It's her." I whispered quietly to Ash and Lily, turning away from the little girl so she couldn't see me talking. "The one that came in late."

I watched as Ash and Lily took turns looking over my shoulder at her. After they'd both gotten a good look, Ash nodded at me, and then looked around before spotting something just to the left of us. She reached out slowly, and then pulled it down, setting off the fire alarm.

The students all put down their instruments, and began panicking, jumping up to turn in circles as if looking for the fire. "Single file outside!" the teacher yelled over the sound of the alarm and the student's voices. "Single file everybody! Outside, now!"

The demon kid looked back at us, calm as could be, as the teacher and other students gradually made their way out of the room. Ash mouthed 'Christo' and the kid flinched again, looking even more angry than before. She waited until the room was rid of the other students and teacher before standing up, and locking the door behind them.

She turned around slowly, flashing us a dark smile. "Well, well, well. Looks like some hunters have figured out my little game. But not soon enough to save those first few kids. But," the demon walked towards us with an eerily calm pace, head tilting slightly as she looked between the three of us, "you'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Lily?"

Lily? I looked at her out of the corner of my eye curiously, wondering what the demon was taalking about. Whatever it was, it was making Lily shake, her eyes wide. After a few seconds, they narrowed into tight, angry slits, and then she reached into her skirt pocket, bringing out a silver flask of holy water that she splashed on it.

The demon screamed in the vessel's high pitch child voice as it fell to the ground, writhing slightly as it grasped at its burning face. Ash stepped forward and dropped to her knees, holding it in place. I readied myself to start the ritual, and I'd already taken a deep breath when Lily started instead, her voice dark, and unusually intense.

"Exi quae illius daemonium et remitte infernum ubi venit." Her voice began to rise as the child spit up black smoke. Ash struggled to keep the girl on the ground, even as she reached up and scratched long pink trails across Ash's arms.

"Sit vas ardes liber!" Lily screamed, and the child collapsed as black smoke was sent back to its rightful place in Hell.

The little girl lay motionless on the ground, except for the odd slight intake of breath, telling us she was still alive. I stared at her, at her rosy cheeks and the sweat that had begun at her hairline, and felt horrible for whatever life she was going to endure after this. Would she need counselling? It wasn't fair. She had her whole life ahead of her, and something like this had to happen.

"Let's get out of here." Ash muttered, getting to her feet and examining the scratches on her arm with a scowl.

Lily and I followed her out of the music room and into the empty halls that were just beginning to fill with children again, having returned from their fire drill outside. I wouldn't look at any of them as we left; a clean break. Seeing their faces made me wish too much. I wished I could stop hunting, I wished there wasn't anything needing to be hunted, and that I could settle down somewhere and be a teacher… Those kinds of impossible wishes make a girl go mad.

In the van, we were back on the road, having packed up our stuff at the hotel that morning, prepared to leave town as soon as possible. It was a quiet ride. I was driving this time, so there was no conversation about my speed; I was generally a careful driver.

Ash cleared her throat awkwardly. "So, Lily."

"Yeah?" she asked quietly, eyes focused on the passing town outside her window. I think she knew Ash was going to ask the question that had been on both of our minds for the past couple of days.

"What did that demon mean when he said you'd know what it's like for a child to be abused?" I was surprised at how quietly Ash asked her, and I waited for the answer.

Lily sighed deeply. "Remember when we met, I told you I'd only taken care of one spirit before?"

"Of course, how could I forget?"

"Well, it was the spirit of my father..."

An intense blanket of silence fell on the van. Ash and I kept our eyes on Lily, who kept her eyes very prominently on the road. After we waited for her to elaborate, she continued.

"He was...abusive. He beat me and my mother. And when he died from a heart attack, we thought it was over. But it wasn't. He kept coming back." Her eyes focused on something neither Ash nor I could see; something she was remembering. "I'd wake up in the middle of night, and there he was, at the end of my bed, just staring at me..." She trailed off, and swallowed, obviously editing the story for our and her's sake. "Anyway, when I was old enough, I researched on how to kill a spirit and I burned and salted his body." She tried to keep a light tone, but her voice shook.

"Oh, Lily." I breathed. It was terrible.

"Well, he's gone now. And I saved my Mom, and so many others. I suppose...it was best."

Ash gave her a hard pat on the shoulder, which seemed to show respect without words. We rode in silence for a long time.

* * *

><p>For the next few months, we went on several different hunting trips, odd ones that seemed to pop up wherever we went. Nearly all of the cases seemed to involve demons, which was expected. I knew as well as anyone that when those gates to hell opened, a whole army of demons were let out into the world. And it was our responsibility to track them down.<p>

Keeping in contact with Sam and Dean through email and video chat, we learned about their current situations and hunts, and how they were progressing on helping Dean. It never seemed to be good news, though.

"You're trusting a demon?" Ash chastised one night, glowering at the screen of Lily's laptop. "How stupid are you guys?"

Dean visibly flinched through the video chat. "Yeah, I don't like it either. But she saved my life, and she saved Sammy's life, and we don't really have any other choice at the moment." He began wringing his hands nervously. I felt Lily beside me melt in sympathy.

"So you said this 'Lilith' holds the contract? And if you kill her, you're free?" I confirmed, and Sam nodded.

"We've only got a week left." Dean said, a slight reluctant tone to his voice. He paused and cleared his throat, quickly composing himself. "You think you girls could get to Bobby's to help us kill this bitch?"

"Of course." Lily said instantly.

Dean grinned. "That's my girl."

Lily's cheeks flushed, and she smiled shyly, eyes lowered on the floor.

"We'll be there as soon as we can." Ash said, standing up to get our stuff together.

"Dean?" Lily asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"You're not going to go to Hell. We're going to save you, okay?"

He laughed, albeit nervously. "Of course you'd say that, you still want me to fulfill my promise." He sobered up. "And I will."

When we got to Bobby's, it was about two days until the year was up. It was a long drive to South Dakota, and Lily was visibly tense, her hands clenched into fists the entire way there. I knew she was worried, like Dean was going to suddenly disappear before we got there.

Sam and Dean were getting ready to go out and kill Lilith when we arrived. We entered the house to find them with Bobby, all three men armed with weapons. I looked at Dean first, and then my gaze drifted quickly to Sam who was staring back at me, as well.

"Hey Sam." I said, as Bobby splashed a bit of Holy Water onto my arms.

He grinned, although I noticed it was shaking slightly He was nervous. "Mira. It's good to see you."

"Yeah yeah," Bobby finished splashing water on Lily and Ash, looking slgihtly annoyed. "We're all reuinited and it feels so good. We've got a demon to kill, so come on. I've found Lilith's location. She's in New Harmony, Indiana."

Dean tore his gaze from Lily, and looked to his brother, shaking his head worriedly. "I don't know about this, Sammy. Lilith wants you dead, too." I felt my breath hitch in my throat, and my heart pinch at his words. Why did such an important demon want Sam dead? Was it because of his powers?

"Why don't we call up Ruby?" Sam suggusted.

My jaw locked. I couldn't exactly judge the girl; I didn't have much to go on. But I knew that she was always hanging around Sam, which meant she was bad news to me. Subtly, I sidestepped closer to Sam, our shoulders nearly touching.

Ash's eyes bugged out. "Uh, no? Demon chick? Bad idea?"

"Agreed." Dean nodded.

Bobby called us into the kitchen where he'd made dinner. I noticed during the meal that Lily kept a close eye on Dean- again, like she thought he was going to disappear right before his eyes. When he moved, she moved; he'd reach for the salt and Lily's eyes would flicker to him, and then the staring woudl ensue. At one point, Dean noticed, and flashed her a reassuring smile. I also noticed his hand snake under the table to squeeze her hand. If only I could comfort Sam like that. I was afraid to touch him.

After supper, we were gathered in the living room when Dean suddenly stood, saying that he had to leave for a minute. Sam looked up when he said this, his eyes narrowed suspicously. "I'll come with you." He siad, getting to his feet and following him out the door. I felt empty once he was gone, and looked at the spot on the couch beside me where he'd been sitting, my throat tightening. Was I always going to come second to someone else?

It was about an hour later when Sam and Dean came back. Sam seemed aggrivated, running his hands through his hair quickly, but Dean seemed happy.

"What happened?" I asked, as Sam sat down beside me on the couch.

Dean held up a knife with a triumphant grin. "We got Ruby's demon-killing knife."

I glanced at Sam cautiously, wondering how come he looked so upset. I'm sure it had something to do with Ruby, but for the time being, I was just going to leave him alone to his thoughts. "So," I said, looking at Bobby, Dean, and then to Ash and Lily, shrugging my shoulders. "What now?"

The night was spent combing through all of our weapons and artillery, deciding what to bring and what to leave behind. Dean and Sam worked to load everything in our van as well asn their Impala. There wasn't much discussion in those few hours, which i sort of appreciated, in a weird way. Sometimes silence was good. It gave me time to think about what we were getting ready to face.

At noon the next day, when the sun was up and shining brightly, Bobby announced that it was time to leave.

That drive was one of the most silent, tense ones I've ever been on. Bobby rode in his truck, while Sam and Dean were in the Impala, leading the way in front of our van. Even Ash felt the atmosphere, and was silent during most of the ride, staring with hard eyes out the widnow. After awhile, I noticed that Lily's hands had begun trembling on the wheel, and she looked like a wreck.

"How about I drive?" I asked gently, and she nodded, switching me seats after we'd pulled over onto the shoulder of the road for a minute.

"It's going to be okay." Ash comforted her, wrapping an arm around her tense shoulders.

Lily had been keeping a brave face while at Bobby's, for Dean's sake, but we knew just how scared she was of losing him. And since she was out of his sight, she was letting it show.

We drove through most of the night, and just when I felt my eyes drooping, I noticed the Impala's brake lights come on as Dean slowed down. It took me a minute to notice the sirens behind us, but then I saw the police car pull up beside the Impala. I quickly parked behind Dean on the shoulder, Bobby behind us, and watched as the cop approached the car slowly.

When he was close enough, Dean reached his hand out the window and used Ruby's knife to stab the police officer. Ash gasped and stuck her head out the passenger side window of our van. "What the hell?"

"I can see it now." Dean opened his door, and turned around to look at us, trying to keep his voice steady. "What they really look like, under the human mask."

Bobby was out of his truck, and came over to Dean's Impala, looking sick to his stomach. "Dean, you've only got five hours left. You can see their real faces 'cause...well, you're almost hell's bitch." when he finished, Lily squeaked, and began pushing her hair back nervously.

Sam leaned out his window and caught my eyes. "Let's go. We've got no time to waste."

It was about an hour later when we pulled into suburbia. Bobby took a detour to go set up a trap, leaving just us and Sam and Dean. We got out and began pulling our weapons from our vehicles, stocking up on everything and anything.

"Hey, hotshots, you're dead already if you just go in guns blazing. Everyone in this town is a demon, you're walking right into a minefield."

"Ruby." Sam said.

I turned around to see a girl with long, straight blonde hair and completely black eyes. I studied her. She had confidence; attitude. I faltered for a second, before regaining my composure and staring at her evenly, although I'm sure she could see right through me.

"Well, I knew you were ugly but hoo, I didn't know just what a disgusting bitch you really were." Dean commented, and I held back a grin.

Ruby glowered at him, before turning to us. "And who'd yo bring along, your girlfriends? Great guys, now even more people are going to die tonight."

I waited for Ash's retort, and sure enough...

"Yeah, yeah. We've never heard that one before. Listen, demon, if you're trying to get your knife back save it. We're not going to give it to you."

Ruby glared at her, surveying around her. "Look, if you don't want to all die, you'll give me the knife, girl."

"Look, demon, if you think-" Ash started, but Lily interrupted her.

"I think we've got a bigger problem," She said, pointing around her. All around us, people were closing in. Not just people- demons. They're eyes were completely black, and they were everywhere. As they approached, the sprinkler was turned on by Bobby, spraying the demons with holy water and forcing them to stay back.

We barged into the suburban house. It was a nice, clean house, like that you would see in a magazine that advertised the "family friendly" location. There were a few toys lying around, and as we stepped in we saw a decaying old woman- dead. I shuddered as we stepped around her to see an old man who was also dead. A younger man stepped out, in hysterics.

"It's not my daughter anymore, she's, she's, you have to help-"

Dean shushed the man. "I know, we're here to help. Where is she?"

"Upstairs...it's not my daughter anymore." The father shuddered, and we told him to go hide in the basement. This...it was horrible. Lilith was horrible, tearing apart this family in such a sick way. As Sam went upstairs, and Dean went after him. We stayed at the rear, getting ready to kill demons or Hellhounds that came at us. After a while of intense waiting, we heard a shout.

Running up, I could see Lily was shaking. We ran into the room to see the crying little girl, her mother, Sam, Dean and Ruby.

"Damn it!" Sam yelled, and he turned to Ruby in desperation. "You have to help Dean, Ruby please!"

Ruby shook her head. "There's nithing we can do except try and hold them off now. Lilith is gone."

Ash cursed.

"There has to be something-" Sam tried again, but Dean interipted him quietly.

"Sam...you take care of yourself. Keep fighting, always keep fighting. And take car of my baby, if you scratch my Impala... Lily." He turned to Lily, whose eyes were wide in horror. "Sorry I couldn't keep my full promise."

She opened her mouth to speak, but never got the chance. With those last words and the sounds of hounds in the distance, he grabbed Lily's waist and pulled her close, kissing her in one last passionate, scared, desperate moment.

The two broke apart apart, Lily with her face stained with tears.

"Dean." She whispered, but cut off short when the Hellhounds growled from downstairs.

"Take this." Ruby said, handing us bags of goofer dust to keep the hounds away. We each took a different side, and sealed the room. After that, all that was left was to wait, and hope that it had worked. I'm sure every person in the room was holding their breath.

"I can try and hold them off with my knife Dean." Ruby said, turning to him and holding out her hand. "Now give me it back."

Suddenly Dean gasped. "It's you!" He said, stepping backward.

I watched as Ruby smiled, her eyes turning white and without removing her gaze from Dean's, flung Lily into the wall. Lily slumped to the floor, her body curling into a heap as she was knocked unconscious. I felt myself being flung as well, landing with a dizzying crunch, my vision blurring into the darkness. I heard one last thing before I blacked out.

"You caught me, Dean. Here I am. Big, bad Lilith. Now sic 'im, boys."


	13. Thirteen Lily

13. Lily

Lilith was gone.

Her and Ruby's shell lay motionless on the ground, dead, no doubt. The poor girl. Slowly, I raised my torso off the floor, wincing at the head rush it caused. As soon as I was at least upright, I dragged my eyes away from her, and towards the other side of the room. What I saw made my breath catch in my throat, and all of the color drain from my face; Sam was kneeling on the floor, cradling Dean in his arms with short, shallow gasps shaking his chest. I'd never seen Sam cry before, and it made matters worse to see just how upset he was. It took everything in me, but I forced myself to look at Dean.

He was completely torn apart, like someone had taken a rake and dragged it a couple hundred times down the length of his shirt. Deep claw marks had ripped his shirt open, revealing the bloody chest underneath. I gagged at the sight of it all, and covered my face with the sleeve of my sweater. Even still, I needed to be over there. So swallowing the sickness in my throat, I crawled to where Sam remained seated, rocking his brother's lifeless body slowly.

"Dean..." his face was contorted with pain and agony. "Oh God Dean, no. Don't leave me, don't you _dare _leave me!"

I reached out a trembling hand, and stroked the side of Dean's blood-splattered face, staring into his dead eyes that started back, right through me. ""No...No..." I whispered. Sam couldn't even look at me; his eyes were also on Dean. His body shook with sobs, and he kept repeating his name, getting louder and louder until he was practically screaming at the ceiling.

Soft tears rolled down my cheeks, and I ignored them, trailing my hand from the side of Dean's face, down his neck, over his shoulders, and then placing it on his chest. When I pulled back, it was covered in blood; a deep, crimson red that made me start to hyperventilate. I couldn't... I couldn't think, couldn't breathe. Dean was dead. Dean was dead.

I began to sob, my shoulders shuddering and chest pinching with each, painful gasp that left my mouth. I collapsed onto the floor, shakily bringing my hands to my face as I moaned. It all hit me at once, how I'd never hear another cocky remark from him, or see that grin. I'd never catch his eye, or speak to him. Everything that made Dean _Dean _was gone, leaving behind a body without anything inside.

I heard Ash stirring, waking up from her unconscious state. "Lily? What are you doing over there?"

I said nothing, sniffling quietly.

"Dean? What...no! No, no dammit! You're not...No!" Ash jumped up from the ground and shoved past Sam to grip Dean's ripped shirt, shaking him a bit. I put a quivering hand on her shoulder and shook my head, letting out a sob.

"No..." She said, and her eyes welled up with angry tears. She too got up, kicked the wall. "Damn it!"

"Ash," I began, but she had her back to me, fast walking towards the door. I squeezed my eyes shut when she slammed it behind her.

This roused Mira from her sleep. Her reaction to Dean wasn't the same as Ash's; as soon as her eyes landed on his mangled chest, she clapped a hand over her mouth and made a run for the door. I couldn't blame her for getting sick; it was a ghastly sight. I just didn't have it in me to move so I could go see if she and Ash were okay. I didn't want to leave Dean's body.

Sam gripped him tighter, shaking. "Please...Dean please, don't leave me alone."

Growing up as a single child, I couldn't imagine the pain Sam was going with the loss of his brother. I didn't know how he was going to cope, if he wanted to be alone or not, so I remained where I was, right by his side. "You're not alone, Sam." I whispered, and he turned his agonized face towards me. "I'm here."

"Lily..." He said, before dropping his head onto my shoulder, sniffling into my neck.

Sam and I stayed there for so long, I lost all track of time. Seconds merged with minutes, and minutes with hours, creating some sort of time span I couldn't keep up with. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recall following Sam out to Bobby's car, him struggling to carry Dean's body. When Bobby saw him, and who he held in his arms, he froze on the spot, his mouth moving but no words coming out.

"Sam, what the hell-"

"Can we please get out of here?" Sam cut him short with a strained voice, tears still swimming in his eyes. "Just...please."

Bobby nodded his head with the same, horrified expression on his face, and then helped him put Dean in the back seat of his truck. Ash and Mira were ready in our van, and they waited for me to get in as well. I took one look at Dean's body, sprawled out on the seats, and then then told them to go without me; I'd be riding back with Sam and Bobby.

I tried not to think about him as Bobby's truck rumbled along the road. It was too painful. But from my seat between Bobby and Sam, I was facing the rear-view mirror, and every time I looked up, I saw Dean's face. Eventually, I closed my eyes and placed my face in my hands, crying again. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.

The next month was a blur; a horrible, painful, blur. Mira, Ash and checked in at a hotel down the road, and we hung around Bobby's, although I wasn't being the best company. Anytime someone spoke to me, I replied with a sharp tone, if I replied at all; the alternative was a dark look. Sam wasn't much better; he sat around the house all day with a blank look in his eyes, and he wouldn't speak to anybody. Sometimes, I caught him watching Mira as she cleaned up a bit, or when she brought him meals, as he refused to move from his spot on the couch most days. I thought he would say something to her, but he would just look away again, looking just as sad as before.

About three and a half weeks after Dean..., I came back inside the house from hiding among Bobby's cars to hear Sam yelling.

"I am not having him cremated Bobby!" Sam was shaking as he screamed. He had put off burying the body, and refused to cremate him.

Bobby looked torn. "I miss him just as much as you do. But we can't leave him up in my guest bedroom like he's at another motel, Sam! It's time to do _something _with his body!"

"We're going to get him back."

"Sam...Be reasonable."

I wanted to protest, to back Sam up, because I didn't want to see Dean gone, either. But before I could, Sam looked down at the ground and swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Fine." He whispered, and then louder, "Fine. But we don't cremate him. We bury him."

I could say anything; I just stared at Sam until my eyes began to water, and then I turned around, running back out of the house.

We buried the body and had a small funeral a few days later. It was unbearable for me. All the muscles in my face ached from crying so much. Sam, surprisingly, had a hand on one of my shoulders while Mira had one on the other. Ash skipped the funeral. I knew she couldn't bear to come.

That night when we returned to Bobby's, I noticed something different about Sam. He paced the floor in the kitchen for twenty minutes straight, his eye brows furrowed as he tried to figure something out. But what? And then the next morning, he announced that he was leaving.

"To go where?" Mira asked, breaking the silence that had fallen among the five of us.

"Anywhere. I just need to get anyway."

Mira stared at him with wide eyes. "But-"

"I'm sorry, but I have to go."

He left not long afterwards, and I noticed that as soon as he was gone, Mira deflated. She tried not to let it show in front of Ash and I, but I knew she was upset. Sometimes at night, I'd wake up from a bad dream to hear her sniffling in her bed. I never said anything, though. It would just bother her. Besides, I wasn't being much better myself. I continued moping around the motel and Bobby's house, keeping my conversations short and not-so-sweet. Mira and Ash never said anything to me on most occasions, and they generally gave me my space as well.

They were clearly worried about me, especially Mira, who took Dean's death the easiest. She was hit, mostly, on how hard it was for Sam and I, and even Ash. She was also still recovering from Sam's departure, which I knew she was upset about.

Once or twice, Ash came up with a case for us to do, but Mira and I never seemed up for it. Even Bobby refused her offer to join her. So what did she do? She went alone. Ash seemed to bury the grief by killing every evil thing she could find. And violently. Sometimes, I'd get worried about how she lost herself in the carnage. Sometimes I just didn't care. I had other things on my mind.

I never realized how much Dean really meant to me until he was gone. He'd saved me, made me laugh, and feel beautiful. He made me blush, too, but was that such a bad thing? After spending so much time with him, suddenly being without him hurt. I missed him. I missed him so much.

Soon the days turned to months. We stayed with Bobby, who had taken up a habit of drinking. After Dean's death, he fell into a bottle, making no attempts to crawl his way back out. He sat at his kitchen table, flipping through old books with some sort of drink at his side. He was trying to find a way to bring Dean back. But there was nothing; no way.

It was near the fourth month without Dean that I decided to follow Sam's lead, and get out of there. Mira and Ash agreed with me when I brought it up to them. When we told Bobby, he looked upset, almost like he didn't want to be alone, but he gave a small nod of his head anyway. "Whatever you girls think is best."

That was when the phone rang. Bobby gruffly excused himself, and picked it up. "Yeah?" There was no emotion in his face to whatever was said on the other end. "Yeah...who's 'me'?"

Mira was watching him anxiously. "Is it Sam?"

"Quiet." Ash hushed her, although she looked equally curious to see who he was talking to.

Something in Bobby's face changed at the response whoever he was talking to gave him. A shadow crossed his features, and without saying anything, he slammed the phone back down into its cradle, avoiding our gazes. I waited for him to explain his actions, and when he didn't, I decided not to ask. Whoever it was, they were gone now.

But that was when the phone rang again.

Bobby snatched up the phone again, a dark look in his eyes. "Who is this? ...This ain't funny. Call again and I'll kill you." this time when he slammed the phone down again, his hand remained on it, as if he was waiting for it to ring just one more time. After five minutes of dead silence, he slowly lifted it away, and then sighed.

"Who was it?" Ash asked, sounding unusually gentle. We could all tell from the look on his face that it wasn't just some prank-caller, asking him if his refrigerator was running.

He ignored her and fell into a chair at the table, returning his attention to his books.

Mira, Ash and I lingered around the house after that, cleaning up some of the mess, just to keep ourselves busy. I was gathering up some dirty dishes from the living room when there was the sound of knuckles rapping on the front door. My head snapped up, and I made a move to answer it, but Bobby was already out of his seat, striding towards the door.

I stopped what I was doing, arms full of dirty dishes, and tried to peek around the corner of the wall to see who was there. Bobby's back was blocking my vision. When he opened the door, I was desperate, and dropped the plates I'd been holding onto the coffee table to go see.

I got halfway to the door when I heard a familiar voice: "Surprise."

Everything inside of me stopped; my heart, my brain, my footsteps. I was frozen in the middle of the hall. No. It couldn't be him... could it?

"I don't surprise." Bobby answered faintly. It _must _be him!

"Yeah, me neither. But here I am."

Suddenly, everything inside of me came alive again, all at once. I stepped around the corner, hidden out of sight, but able to see all I needed to see. There was Dean Winchester, in the flesh, standing right before my eyes. He was wearing the same thing he had been the last time I'd seen him; an army-green button up shirt, (unbuttoned, of course) and a dark black tee-shirt. But there was no blood. Absolutely none; not even a scratch on him. When we buried him, he was still ripped open for all to see.

No...This wasn't him, was it?

My eyes drifted from "Dean" to Bobby, who had slowly been backing away from him. I could see his hand lingering on the table closest to him, and when I peered closer, I saw he was holding a knife. This didn't look like Dean did when he died, but what if it really was him?

"Bobby no!" I cried, just as he lifted his arm, and took a swing at Dean with the knife.

Dean dodged it, and the knife pierced the air instead. "Bobby! It's me!"

"My ass!" he chased Dean into the living room, taking wild swings at him with his knife. I couldn't move. Was it Dean or was it not? And if it wasn't, then _what _was it? A monster? A demon? My sorrow slowly began to fade into rage. How dare that damn thing imitate Dean!

"Bobby!" He..._it _tried again, cowering behind a chair. "Whoa, whoa wait! Your name is your name is Robert Steven Singer, you became a hunter after your wife got possessed! Uh," his eyes shifted wildly from Bobby, to me, and then back to him again. "You're the closest thing I have to a father!" Slowly, he began to rise from his hiding place, holding out his hands defensively. "Bobby, it's me."

I was still recovering from when his gaze had met mine (I got that same, wobbly feeling in my legs, just like all of the times before) and didn't notice when Bobby lowered his knife. That is, until I heard him grunt again and take another swing, seeing right through Dean's speech.

"Bobby!" He tried again, dodging the knife for the fifth time. "I'm not a shape shifter!"

"Then you're a revenant!"

My eyes were hardly able to follow the two men's dance in the middle of the room, and when they separated, it was Dean who held the knife now. "Alright," he said, breathing heavily, "If I was either, could I do this with a silver knife?" Without breaking Bobby's gaze, he rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt, revealing his bare forearm. I watched, wide-eyed, as he took the knife, and sliced right below the crease of his elbow, cringing slightly. I saw the blood oozing from the clean cut, and felt weak in the knees.

"Dean?" Bobby whispered, narrowing his eyes in disbelief.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you."

As the two embraced, I tried to get my thoughts in order. This...this was insane, it couldn't be happening. I was having another dream about him, that was all. I pinched my skin- I was awake.

"It's good to see you, boy." Bobby pulled away from the hug, but kept Dean at arms' reach.

His grin trembled slightly. "Yeah, you too."

"What...how did you bust out?"

"I don't know. I just woke up in a pine box, and-"

He broke off when Bobby took a last precaution and tossed Holy water into his face. Blinking through it, Dean turned his face away, and spat out whatever had gotten into his mouth. "I'm not a demon either, you know."

Still holding the flask of water, Bobby shrugged innocently. "Sorry; can't be too careful."

"D-Dean?" I whispered, stepping out from the shadows and twisting my sleeves together nervously. "Is that...is that really you?"

Our eyes met, and when he smiled, I felt all my breath leaving my chest. "The one and only." He said softly, and then spread his arms out.

Without thinking, I folded myself into them, feeling him hugging me tightly against his chest. I hid my face in the fabric of his shirt, or rather, I hid the tears that blurred my vision. _Don't you dare leave me again, Dean Winchester. Never, again. _Sniffling quietly, I pulled back and stared up at him, shaking my head. "But you were all ravaged. I saw it happen! How did you get out?"

His arms held onto my waist, keeping me in place as he spoke. "I don't know! All I remember is one minute I'm Hell-hound food and the next I'm six feet under. But I do have this." He lifted his sleeve slowly, revealing a large, pink scar that took on the frightening shape of a handprint. Both Bobby and I shuddered at the sight of it.

"Is everything alright in here?" Mira asked gently, as she and Ash appeared from the kitchen doorway. "We heard a lot of ruckus, and-"

She was cut off when they spotted Dean, and a snarl ripped through Ash. She made a step towards him, but I moved in between them, blocking her path.

"It's him, Ash. It's really him."

She stared at me like I was absurd. "Lily, we just _buried _him! He can't be standing there-"

"He cut open his arm with a silver blade." I interjected softly. "And Bobby splashed Holy water on his face. It's him."

"But _how_?"

"That's what we're just discussing."

I felt Dean come up behind me, his arm slipping around my waist. "Hi Mira, Ash." He surveyed the room, nodding his head slightly. "So, you girls have been staying with Bobby, eh?" With a slight chuckle, he turned his gaze onto the man looking absolutely stunned beside him. "You sly dog."

"Kiss my ass, boy; they've been grieving. Everyone has."

I watched as Dean's smile fell into a serious line on his face. "Right. Speaking of everyone, where is Sammy?"

None of us answered. Mira looked away awkwardly, and Ash cleared her throat. I felt him looking at me, and he gave my waist a light, nervous squeeze. "Lily? Where is Sam? I want to go see him." He sounded so hopeful that I looked down at my shoes, reluctant to be the one to tell him.

"Dean." Bobby murmured, stepping up when no one else would. "Sam left a few months ago, and he didn't tell us where he was going. We don't know where he is."

"Well...is he alright?"

"As far as I know, yeah."

Dean swallowed, and nodded slowly, looking at each of our faces. "Okay... Well, first thing's first. Let's go find my brother."

**A/N: Hey there everybody, FinnHudsonxoxo here. Ok, so i hope everyone has gotten used to the new format, and thanks so much for reading. But we'd like to know how we're doing! We need reviews! :D Tell us what you liked, disliked, what you think needs imporvement, etc! All reviews are welcome! And thanks again for reading!**


	14. Fourteen Lily

14. Lily

"Yeah, hi. I have a cell phone account with you guys, and I lost my phone. I was wondering if you could turn the GPS on for me."

As Dean waited, holding his phone against the side of his face, I stared at him, unable to get over the fact that he was sitting right there beside me. Four months of being without him, and suddenly having him there, was going to take a lot of getting used to. That was why I offered to sit in the back of Bobby's truck with Dean while Ash and Mira followed behind us in our van; I wanted to catch up with him. Besides, I also had my laptop out, ready to track Sam's phone.

"Yeah," Dean said, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. "The name's Wedge Antilles... Social's 2474... Thank you." He hung up his phone and then leaned towards me, peering at the screen of my laptop as I began typing.

In the front seat, Bobby glanced at us in the rear-view mirror. "How'd you know he'd use that name?"

"Are you kidding me? What don't I know about that kid?"

We both waited as Arc Mobile tracked Sam's phone. And then, a map appeared on the screen with a virtual pin placed on it.

"Sam's in Pontiac, Illinois." Dean read aloud, looking stunned.

Bobby looked the same. "Right near where you were planted."

"Right where I popped up. Hell of a coincidence, don't you think?"

I looked out the window to concentrate my attention elsewhere for the ride, but my mind was racing anyway. Both Dean and Bobby were set on the idea that Sam had made some sort of deal for him to come back to life, and the fact that Sam was hiding near his grave site was doing him any good. Still, I didn't think it was him. I knew how upset he was, and how he didn't want Dean's body cremated, but I also knew that Sam had seen the after-math of deal making. It didn't seem like something he'd fall into so easily.

Dean settled back into his seat as Bobby turned onto the highway, heading towards Pontiac. For a moment, the truck was silent. And then, I looked at him. "So, do you have any theories about that handprint on your shoulder?"

He lifted his own hand, and pressed it over top numbly as he nodded. "A few. It's almost like a demon just..._yanked _me out. Or rode me out." Our eyes met, and he forced a smile. "Think the chicks will dig it if I tell them it's a tattoo?"

A heated blush spread across my face, and I averted my gaze. "It doesn't look like a tattoo."

"Are you kidding me? It looks like a badass tattoo, and I'm telling people that's what it is."

I still refused to look at him. "Okay, whatever. Do what you want." I knew he was staring at me, the smile gone from his face, but I was done talking. _Great_; one hour with him and I was already mad. Could you really blame me though? This was some serious stuff we were dealing with, and he was playing it off as a joke, a tattoo.

It was nearly dark when we pulled up to a motel in Pontiac, practically the only one in the whole town. I was asleep, my face pressed against the glass of my window. "Lily." Dean whispered, shaking my shoulder slightly. "Come on, we're here. Rise and shine, sleeping beauty."

I roused with heavy eyes, blinking at him through the darkness. "I'm up..."

Mira and Ash met us outside the cars, and I couldn't help notice how nervous Mira looked. She kept brushing her hair away from her eyes and wore a solemn look. I'm not sure what she was expecting us to find in there, but I knew it couldn't have been good.

The "Astoria Hotel" only had two levels, and Sam's room was on the bottom floor. The five of us walked in a single file line towards 207, where soft rock music was muffled through the wooden door. I watched as Bobby and Dean exchanged uneasy looks before Dean reached out, and pounded his fist against the door.

Mira's breath caught in her throat when it opened, and a petite brunette girl stood before us in her underwear and a tank top. She looked between Dean and Bobby expectantly. "So where is it?" She asked, keeping one hand on the door as she stared at them.

Dean raised an eye brow. "Where's what?"

"The pizza, that takes _two _guys to deliver?" There was a slight edge to her voice.

"I think we got the wrong room."

Beside me, Mira noticeably relaxed. "Thank God." she whispered, looking between me and Ash with a relieved smile. "For a second there I actually thought that girl was with-"

"Sam." Dean breathed, and I returned my attention to the door.

Standing behind the girl in the underwear was Sam Winchester in all his glory. His chest heaved beneath his shirt at the sight before him; his brother, back from the dead, grinning at him like this wasn't an unusual moment for either of them. "Hi'ya, Sammy." He said.

Something in Sam's face changed when Dean stepped forward, into the hotel room. His jaw locked, and before any of us could do anything, he pulled a silver knife from the waist band of his jeans and lunged at his brother. Bobby grabbed him before he could hurt Dean, and pushed him back a few steps.

"Who are you?" Sam demanded angrily.

Dean glared at him. "Oh like you didn't do this?"

"Do what?"

"It's him!" Bobby explained, struggling to keep Sam away from Dean. "It's him, Sam, I've been through this already and it's _really _him!"

The three of us, (Mira, Ash and I) were holding our breaths, waiting to see if Sam would believe him. Slowly, the angry melted from his face, replaced with pure confusion. "Wait..." he gasped, trying to catch the breath he'd lost during his struggles against Bobby. "But...but..."

"I know." Dean said, stepping towards him cautiously. "I look fantastic, huh?"

Sam broke free of Bobby's hold, which had gradually grown more and more slack, and hugged his brother tightly, squeezing his eyes shut. Giving them their privacy, I turned my attention to Mira, who was looking absolutely crestfallen.

"Are you okay?" I asked, and she turned her sadden expression on me.

"I didn't have possession of him. He was fair game. So how come I feel like I lost my chance?"

The tears welling in her eyes made my heart sting. "Oh Mira." I whispered, pulling her in for a hug. "Come on, don't be like that."

"Yeah," Ash chipped in, patting Mira soothingly on the back. "So what if he had a one night stand with some sleazy girl from Illinois?"

Someone cleared their throat, and the three of our heads turned to see the "sleazy girl from Illinois" glowering at us from inside the hotel room. Mira and I looked away, embarrassed, but Ash challenged her gaze with one of her own. Finally, she sighed, and turned to Sam.

"I should probably go."

"Yeah," Sam said, not taking his eyes off Dean. "Yeah that's probably a good idea."

"Call me."

"Sure thing, Cathy."

She was in the hallway at that point, and turned around slowly to give him a dark look. "Chrissie."

"...Right."

When she was gone, Ash turned to Mira with a sly grin. "See? You don't have anything to worry about. He couldn't even remember her name." She took her hand, and I took the other, and the three of us walked into Sam's hotel room without looking back on Cathy...Chrissie...whatever.

Inside, Dean and Bobby were leaning up against the window, and us three took a seat on the king sized bed. Mira grimaced slightly at something, and she nudged me, pointing to the left corner of the bed. When I followed her motion, I saw that there was white, lace bra crumpled up into a ball. Mira met my gaze, and I could see how hurt she looked. I didn't know what to say, so I turned my face away and listened as Dean began to speak.

"So tell me, what'd it cost?"

"The girl?" Sam asked, and I felt Mira tense beside me. "I don't pay, Dean."

"It's not funny Sam. To bring me back. What'd it cost?" When Sam said nothing, he crossed his arms over his chest. "Was it just your soul or was it something worse?"

Sam raised his face to his brother's. "You think I made a deal?"

"That's exactly what we think." Ash confirmed with a dark stare.

"Well I didn't."

He said it so simply, so easily, that I felt my eyes widening slightly. Was it true? How could I be sure? I wasn't the only one thinking it; beside me, Mira was staring at Sam with an expression of admiration. "He's telling the truth." she whispered to me with a slight smile. "I can tell."

Dean on the other hand, remained set. "Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying." Sam insisted with an annoyed look.

"So what? Now I'm off the hook and you're on? Is that it? You're some demon's _bitch boy_? I didn't want to be saved like this."

Sam was on his feet in a second, glowering at his brother, all signs of his previous happy mood gone. "Look, Dean. I _tried _to make a deal, okay? I tried everything! I tried opening the devil's gate and I tried bargaining, Dean, but no demon would take the deal! For months I had to live with the thought of you rotting in hell while I was up here living life because of it. I tried to bring you back Dean but I couldn't, alright? I just couldn't."

No one spoke. The tension in the room was thick, and I'll be damned if even the sharpest blade couldn't cut through it. All of us -Mira, Bobby, Ash and I- were watching Sam and Dean, especially Dean, waiting for him to say something.

It was Sam who spoke first, his voice softer than before. "I'm...I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Dean said without hesitation. His eyes were wide. "You don't have to apologize. I believe you."

"Well if it wasn't Sam," I said, frowning. "Something had to bring you back."

Bobby was nodding. "Yeah, and I know just how to figure out what it was."

* * *

><p>The person Bobby had in mind was a woman living just outside of Pontiac, a psychic. "Bobby!" she grinned widely when she opened the door of her house, and strode outside, picking the man up in her arms like he was a little boy. She laughed as she hugged him, and then set him down again, noticing that he wasn't alone. "So, are these the boys?"<p>

"And the girls." Dean smiled, motioning at the three of us who remained on the second step of the porch, hidden behind him and Sam."

She peered around them at us, and smiled. "Hi, girls."

"This is Pamela Dean," Bobby said, "The best damn psychic in the state."

"Hey." Dean said, at the same time Sam said 'hi'.

She smiled at them both for a moment, her gaze seeming to linger longer on Dean, and then she motioned for us all to come inside. "So," Bobby said, as Pamela closed the door behind us. "Have you heard anything yet?"

"Well, I've ouji'd my way through a dozen spirits." she crossed her arms over her chest with a nod at Dean. "No one seems to know who broke your boy out, for why."

"So what's next?"

"A séance, I think." she sighed. "See if we can see who did the deed."

Bobby's eye brows rose. "You're not going to summon the damn thing here, are you?"

"No. I just want to get a sneak-peek at it, like a crystal ball, without the crystal."

She led us into her dining room where Sam went around, closing all of the curtains. Pamela threw a black cloth over the table, and then grabbed a few candles from a nearby shelf, having to bend down to get at them. When she did this, her tank top rose and pants lowered, revealing a tattoo on her lower back. _Jesse Forever. _I rolled my eyes, and then noticed both Sam and Dean staring at it.

"Who's Jesse?" Dean asked with a sly smile. I sent my elbow into his ribs.

Pamela laughed. "Well, let's just say it wasn't forever."

"His loss."

She straightened up, and walked over to him, a playful smile on her lips. "Might be your gain."

At that moment, I knew exactly how Mira had felt when she saw Sam at his hotel room with the girl in the underpants. I especially felt bad when Dean's eye brows rose at her suggestive words. "Dean." I said through my teeth. "Can we focus, please?" I didn't mean to sound like the jealous type but...

"Everybody take a seat." Pamela ordered, already seated at the head of the table with five candles lit in the middle of it. "We're going to start."

I sat down on the other side of Dean, carefully watching his actions towards Pamela. "Hold hands." She instructed, and he looked at me with a cocky grin before holding out his for me to place my own into. I have to admit, I felt warmth spread over my cheeks when I realized I was holding hands with Dean. But then the ritual began, and I had to concentrate on meditation. Pamela began to speak.

"I conjure and command you to show me your face.  
>I conjure and command you to show me your face.<br>I conjure and command you to show me your face.  
>Castiel, I conjure and command you to show me your face."<p>

"Castiel?" Dean asked, as the atmosphere in the room began to build.

"Its name. He's telling me to turn back, but I've almost got it!"

I took a peek out of my right eye to see Ash doing the same thing. She looked widely back and forth, and I shrugged a bit.

"I command you to show me your face!"  
>"I command you to show me your face!"<p>

"Maybe we should turn back..." Bobby supplied, and I saw Mira nod.

"I've almost got it!" The Pamela cried.

"Show me your face, Castiel!"  
>"Show me your face!"<br>"SHOW ME YOUR FACE!"

At that moment, she let out a piercing shriek as her eyes burst into flames, her chair toppling over. Our own eyes snapped open, at the sound, and I nearly gagged at the sight of her. All the same, I was out of my seat at the same time Sam, Dean, Ash and Bobby were, rushing over to help her.

"I can't see!" She sobbed, as Bobby helped her up from the ground.

Ash stared at her empty sockets in horror. I knew it freaked her out not knowing what we were up against and how to kill it.

It scared us all out.

After all, if just seeing its face caused her eyes to burn out, what could it do to us if it was trying to hurt us?

**A/N: Hey there, FinnHudsonxoxo here again =) Just wanted to let people know that in upcoming chapters, hopefully chapter 15, there will be a link to see drawings of Lily, Ash and Mira done by RainbowTurkeyofDoom. So stick in there until then, and keep reading/reviewing! !**


	15. Fifteen Ash

15. Ash

It takes a lot to throw me off my game.

I'm not side-tracked by something simple, so to veer off course like I did from the past week's events meant something serious was going on. First, there was the fact that Dean was back to life. That alone was enough to throw me miles; never in my three years of hunting had I _ever _seen anything like it! And for there to be no explanation at all behind it was all the more scary. The supernatural aren't so bad, but as soon I don't know what I'm up against, I get a little tense.

Then there's whatever is going on between Mira and Sam that has come to screeching halt because he got a little lonely. I knew seeing him with another girl really tore Mira up, and when that happens, I get torn up, and so does Lily. We're sisters; it's what happens.

But what's got me freaked out most is the preview we received of what we're up against, thanks to that psychic who didn't know when to quit. The damn thing burned her eyes right out of her sockets! And that was just when she glimpsed at it. What are we supposed to do when we're supposed to fight it? Keep our eyes shut? And how is that going to turn out?

We needed a plan; fast.

I waited until Sam, Mira and Lily went to get groceries before sneaking into Dean's hotel room. He was lying on his bed reading a magazine when I came in. He didn't look up until the door closed, the lock clicking loudly into place. I was already sitting on Sam's bed by then.

"Ash, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I guess I can't just be happy to see my friend now can I?" I asked with a roll of my eyes.

"That's not why you're here, and you know it. Unless your here for..." he trailed off with a suggestive raise of his eye brows, to which I picked up the closest pillow and tossed roughly at him.

"Focus. What are we doing about this Castiel?"

Dean sighed, and lay back down on his bed, looking tired. "Well, I was thinking we could try and summon him. Bobby knows a ritual. Then, we take along the demon-killing knife and give it a shot."

The plan was crazy, hands down. I combed my finger through my hair, thinking hard. It was hard going into something like this without any sort of idea on how to be prepared. "I guess it's our only option, really." I said after a moment's thought. "We'll have to be completely ready though, the whole nine yards."

"Do I look like a moron? Of course we'll have to be prepared-"

I was ready to retaliate when suddenly the TV switched on by itself.

It wasn't anything but white noise. "What the hell?" I said, and catching a look that crossed Dean's face, I began to feel a tad worried. He jumped up and grabbed his shotgun as the radio turned on as well, and I pulled out my knife, looking around as he did.

"I think it's him. Castiel." He said, eyes wide.

It started softly at first, but then became louder and louder. It was whispers, breathing and words that danced around. I dropped my knife, and it clattered to the ground. The sound was just so... so... beautiful. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. The voice was everywhere but nowhere, it was in my mind, but also in my soul. I could feel it, in the blood pumping through my veins and my own heart's emotions soaring as he spoke. It was music, it was culture, it was every language imaginable and none at all. I was enchanted. I closed my eyes, listening with my ears and heart. I'd never felt like this before, and I never wanted it to stop.

"Dean... Dean... we have work for you..." I heard the whispers, tried to decipher the actual words but it was difficult. I felt whole, I felt cleansed and I felt...happy. A smile actually spread across my face as a wave of calm crashed over me, tingling in my fingertips.

I didn't notice until I opened my eyes that the mirrors in the room had shattered, and Dean was no longer standing. He lay on the floor with his hands clapped over his ears, his eyes squeezed tightly together as he groaned in pain.

"Dean? What the... Dean!" I hated to speak over his voice, but I had to help him. The whispers gradually died away, the TV and the radio turning off. I grabbed a rag for Dean, to help mop up the blood from his ears, which he slowly took his hands off of.

When I finished cleaning him up, I touched my hand to my own ears. No, there wasn't any blood. Had we experienced the same thing?

"Are you okay Dean?" I asked, keeping my voice hard. I pulled him up to a sitting position, keeping my gaze sharp. His eyes dragged over my face, from ear to ear, searching for what I had just searched for as well.

"Do I look okay to you? Damn noise...wha- what the hell dude? Please tell me you heard that and it's not only me."

"You mean the whispers?" I asked quietly. Dean gave me an incredulous look.

"Whispers? What are you talking about?" He glared at me like it was my fault he hadn't heard them. "There was just this loud ringing noise, and that was it, there were definitely no whispers."

This time it was my turn to give him an incredulous look. "You...you really didn't hear them?"

"No."

* * *

><p>"This is a stupid idea." Bobby said as the three of us rode in his truck to an old abandoned barn we were going to use for the summoning. It must have been the seventh, maybe eighth time he'd said that since we left the hotel, and frankly, I was getting sick of his attitude. Dean and I both rolled our eyes in synchronization.<p>

"If you've got a better idea," Dean said, giving him a hard look. "Shoot."

Bobby shook his head. "We could really use Sam, Mira and Lily for this."

"No," I disagreed, "They definitely wouldn't like this plan. They'd try and stop us from going."

"We've got the knife, and all the stuff we need to face this thing, whatever he is" Dean stared straight out the windshield as he spoke, his eyes narrowed on the darken road ahead.

The building was completely empty, as we had planned it to be, when we got there. The walls were bare, another precaution we'd seen to, and Dean was quick to pass out the white spray paint he'd brought along. Bobby held a book he'd brought along, special for the occasion, and showed Dean and I the different pages of symbols he'd bookmarked. In the span of one hour, we had the entire barn covered in evil-warding symbols. We didn't know, of course, what it was we were warding off. But they would surely be stopped from going anywhere once summoned inside.

Next were the weapons.

The three of us had brought just about every weapon known to man, and laid down our best ones on a table we'd set up. I kept my silver knife in my hand, while Bobby and Dean held a shotgun in their hands. There were stakes, iron, silver, salt, knives, and every gun we had on us... We were ready as we would ever be. I took one last survey of the barn (from the symbols we'd spray painted, to the weapons we were trusting to keep us safe from whatever was coming) and then relaxed my shoulders ever so slightly.

"Okay Bobby, let's get this show on the road." Dean rubbed his hands together with an annoyed look. "It's freaking' cold in here and I'm starving."

Bobby walked over to the other side of the table where he performed the ritual without a word edge-ways, staying completely focused. When he finished, Bobby stepped away from the table with wide, curious eyes wandering the length of the building. Dean and I were doing the same. So the ritual was done. "Now's the waiting game." I mumbled.

The first ten minutes were spent like we were all on high-alert; we each stood at the ready with our weapon of choice in hand, walked around in circles to have at least one pair of eyes on each corner of the building at all times. The second ten minutes left us a slightly faltered, although we didn't lower our weapons until the third set of ten minutes, when nothing had appeared yet and we were bored out of our minds.

"You sure you did the ritual right?" Dean asked with a tired yawn as he carved his name into the wood of the table with a knife.

When Bobby gave him a dark look, he dropped the knife with a nervous smile. "Sorry. Touchy, touchy."

I sat on the ground beside the table, playing with the zippers on my pant legs. "Hey, Bobby, I'm not criticizing your ritual skills or anywhere here, but shouldn't the..._thing _have gotten here already? I mean, it's been almost forty minutes...and nothing's happened."

Bobby sighed, and scratched at his beard. "No, I did it right. It's just taking its time getting here."

Then, as if on cue, the roof began to bang, as if a hurricane was occurring outside.

I leapt to my feet as Dean reached for his knife again, his eyes going right to the roofing shingles that were rising and falling over top of us. "Wishful thinking, but maybe it's just the wind." he said, and he gripped his knife tighter in his hands. I did the same, right as the lights began to flicker, and then turned off. In the pitch black, I couldn't see anything, but the sounds made were evident; the doors had opened, and something was coming inside.

What scared me most was how little I was scared. Thinking of the voice earlier, I hadn't been afraid one bit by it. It had been oddly comforting, and somehow, if what owned the voice was coming now, I wasn't afraid.

But what came through the door was no monster, but rather a man. He looked like your average Joe; tall, broad shouldered with dark brown, clean cut hair and a squared jaw. He wore a long, beige over coat, as well as a white dress shirt and a blue tie that hung loosely around his neck. What made me lower my knife though was the way he looked at me when he noticed me standing there in the dark. It was like his eyes were on fire, and they were burning right through every guard I had placed in front of me throughout the years. His eyes were just so...tantalizing. I couldn't look away. He could, though; his head turned side to side calmly as he surveyed the building, his gaze sweeping over our traps with a look of disinterest.

Dean and Bobby both shot at the man, and the bullets hit him square in the chest. He kept walking, not even so much as flinching at what would have killed a normal man.

When he drew closer to us, I backed myself up against the table of weapons, forgetting all about the reason we were there. I was spellbound to this man, as pathetic as it sounds. But there was something about the feeling I got when he looked at me, this calm, intensely peaceful feeling I got. It made me feel like I was sitting in the sun and the warm rays were beating down on me gently. I was surprisingly reluctant to strike him down. He had this look to him, this calm look that made me feel as if he wasn't going to hurt us.

"Who are you?" Dean asked him, shotgun raised as the man walked right up to him.

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition." he answered, and my ears perked slightly at the tone of voice he used. That voice. There was something about it. Not the literal voice, but the tone, the inflictions. This was definitely the thing that had been speaking in the hotel room.

"Yeah, well thanks for that." Dean muttered darkly.

The man, Castiel, bowed his head slightly.

As Dean struck the knife into his chest, I knew the second it hit it was not going to work. And on some strange, unknown level to me, I was relieved that it hadn't.

Castiel looked down at the knife, and then back at Dean, like he was slightly disappointed at his choice of actions. He slowly pulled it out, and then dropped it to the ground, stepping over it to get closer to him. As soon as he moved, Bobby struck with his sword, swinging it at him.

Without even looking at him, Castiel grab it with his hand, and slowly moved in a semi-circle until he was facing Bobby. Without breaking his surprised gaze, he put two fingers to Bobby's forehead, and Bobby slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Dean looked at me, expecting me to strike. Hell, I expected myself to strike. But I couldn't do it.

I took another step back.

"You're the one who was talking at the hotel." I said, keeping a strong grip on my knife. I may have felt a strange aversion to attacking him, but I sure as hell was not letting my guard down.

For the first time since his arrival he switched his gaze from Dean to me.

Something inside of me began to tighten, and the tight sensation spread throughout my entire body. It was like I was coiling for something, but the release of pressure never came. It wasn't a bad kind of pressure though; it felt oddly good. When I met Castiel's gaze, I swallowed tightly, and felt my knife slipping from my hand, clattering onto the ground at my feet. When this happened, the pressured feeling relaxed into that of a warm one, sort of like a fire was spreading throughout my body, warming every inch of me. I felt the odd need to smile. I didn't, though.

"Yes." Castiel spoke softly. "You could hear my voice." It wasn't a question I had made, but a confirmation.

"That was your voice?" Dean asked, and then he narrowed his eyes and grumbled, "Mind toning down the volume a bit next time?"

He looked back at Dean. "That was my mistake." He said calmly, slowly. "Certain people...special people can perceive my true visage. I thought you were one of them." Hearing his words, I started to put two and two together. This man. He couldn't be-

Castiel turned to me and I felt my breath hitch in my throat. I tried to take a step back, but I was paralyzed. For a moment, he just surveyed my face, his enticingly calm eyes sweeping over every feature, and curve, with a somewhat puzzled expression. And then he spoke to me.

"I need to speak to Dean, alone. I apologize in advance."

"Wait, wha-"

Before I could finish my protest, Castiel took the two steps necessary to close the gap between us, his gaze never wavering from mine. He was uncomfortably close; I could feel his cool breath on my skin. But I didn't move. I stood there like an idiot, eyes wide and focused intently on his. Everything inside of me felt like it was melting, and I wanted to shake myself free from this ridiculous state, but I just couldn't. Something kept me rooted where I was, even as his hand lifted slowly, his forefingers sticking up while the rest curled back into his palm.

I could feel everything when his fingers neared my forehead; his body heat, warming my own from how close he was, the breeze that was picking up from the doors he'd left wide open upon his grand entrance, and my heart, hammering against my chest, going faster and fasted the nearer his fingers got to my head. I saw everything happen in slow-motion, sort of like I was dreaming. And then, when he touched me, it was like someone had splashed cold water over my face, waking me up. I saw a bright light, before complete and total darkness.

**A/N: Hola people of fanfiction. Just quickly (or not; you can never tell with these things how long they'll be) I just want to thank people for reading. BUT OHMYGOD! Where be all 'dem reviews people? I'm sure some of you were too stunned into silence at the mere awesomeness of the other chapters to click "review" but im giving you some time right now to calm down... Breathe in...out... Ok. Good. Awesome. Review? I think so ;)**


	16. Sixteen Ash

16. Ash

I felt funny when I woke up. Not ha-ha funny, but...weird. I was lying on my side against the cold, dirt ground of the building, darkness surrounding me. I blinked, trying to adjust my eyes, while the rest of my body was trying to adjust to this new sensation. It almost felt like I'd had the best sleep of my entire lifetime; I felt so refreshed.

"Wakey wakey." Dean was watching me from the table across the room, and although he sounded like he was in a joking mood, he wore a serious expression.

I stared at him for a moment, realizing that I hadn't slept for days at all; maybe not even hours. It was still dark outside, which meant it was still midnight, or around then. That was when I remembered what happened before I was knocked out. I sat bolt right up, head swinging around the room.

"Where's-"

"Castiel?" Dean suggested with a slight snort. "Yeah, he's still here."

My heart leapt at the mere mention of his name, and when Dean nodded towards the corner of the room, it was ready to explode out of my chest. I turned my head slowly, and saw him. He stood huddled in the corner of the building, hands deep inside of his coat pockets as he tilted his head upwards, examining the signs we'd spray-painted. When Dean said his name, Castiel looked at me over his shoulder.

As soon as those eyes hit me again, I was taken aback just from the calming sensation that ran through me like a jolt of electricity. "H-Hi." I mumbled like a complete idiot, stumbling to my feet. Castiel continued staring at me, his expression remaining the same. I cleared my throat, and nervously rubbed my hands together. "I'm-"

"Ashley Elsberry." He finished for me, tilting his head slightly. "Age twenty-three. You were born in October 11th, 1984 in Illinois."

I couldn't speak; I just stared at him and he stared back evenly.

"But you prefer to be called, 'Ash', correct?"

Numbly, I nodded.

Castiel didn't smile, or say anything else to me. He returned his attention to the signs on the walls, leaving me standing in the middle of the room feeling like he'd just been poking around inside of my brain. Who knows what else that guy had uncovered?

"Castiel is an angel." Dean murmured, so quietly I almost didn't hear him.

I asked him to repeat himself anyway, just to make sure I actually did. "What?"

"An angel. You know, the kind with wings and halos, who flutter around up there in the clouds with their harps and magic angel dust?"

I could tell he was being sarcastic, but it was evident that not everyone could.

Castiel's blank gaze fell onto Dean, and he raised an eye brow. "You are mistaken, Dean. Those are common misconceptions. Angels are warriors of God. We do not 'flutter'."

I hid my smile by pressing the sleeve of my sweater over my mouth, and cleared my throat, waiting until it was safely tucked away before putting my hand down again. "Right. So...Castiel. You're an angel. That's a first."

"I'm an angel of the Lord. There are many of us. This is hardly a first."

He sounded so serious that I felt my smile threatening to peak again. "Okay, well I meant a first for me. You're the only angel I've ever come across."

"We haven't had a reason to be here before." Castiel said, giving a slight shrug of his shoulders. "We tend to not use vessels and speak to whoever need be spoken to with our real voices."

When he said that, I noticed Dean grimacing, and raising a hand to touch one of his ears. That was what tipped me off. Well, that and the fact that Castiel had practically just spelled it out for me. "It was you." I whispered, staring at him with wide eyes, all traces of the smile I'd been fighting before gone now. "You were the voice in the hotel."

I was remembering how beautiful it had sounded, how melodic. When I looked at Castiel, he was nodding slowly, like he wasn't surprised I had made the connection. "Yes, that was me. I apologize if I caused you any discomfort, such as what Dean experienced. My true form and voice can be overwhelming to humans."

"Overwhelming?" I repeated, feeling dazed; the voice I was recalling was still replaying in my head. "I heard you, loud and clear."

Something in Castiel's face changed. Finally, he shows emotion, and I can't even read it. "You heard me?"

"Yeah. It was a beautiful sound, but I guess Dean didn't hear it. His ears were bleeding."

Castiel moved away from the wall with a slow, patient pace, walking towards me with his eyes glued on mine. I sucked in a deep breath while he did this, and tried not to fall for that look of his again. Lily was the hopeless romantic; not me. Besides, this guy was supernatural. Angel or not, he was. And falling for him would be like falling for anything else we hunted. Still, those eyes were enough to make me feel like time had stopped, and for a split second, I was floating above my body, feeling weightless even as I stood there with my feet planted firmly on the ground.

"Is that weird?" I asked cautiously when he remained silent, staring at me.

"Yeah." Dean muttered under his breath.

Castiel shook his head slowly. "It means you're one of the select few special people who can. You should be honoured, Ashley."

"Ash." Angel or not, no one calls me Ashley.

"My apologies."

When I looked to my left, Dean was staring at me with his eye brows raised, like he didn't know what to think of the situation. Well, I was right there with him. "So I'm a freak, is that it?" I threw my hands up in the air, letting them slap against the thighs of my pants again. "Great, like I really needed another thing going against me."

Castiel's head tilted again, looking confused. "Freak? I don't understand how a gift like yours makes you a freak. You should be praised. Not many can hear angel's voices."

"It's not a gift!" I objected with a dark look. "A gift is being able to see the future, or read people's mind. Hearing voices is the sort of thing you get thrown into padded rooms for!"

Just like with anything else I seem to say, Castiel didn't understand. He opened his mouth at me, and then snapped it shut, turning his attention to Dean. "What is a 'padded room' are why are people with gifts being sent there?"

Dean chuckled, shaking his head. "Just let this one go."

"Go where?"

"Never mind. Don't you have to be leaving?"

Castiel nodded, his face still blank with confusion, and said calmly, "I do. Good bye Dean, Ashley."

"Ash." I corrected him, but he took no notice.

He gave us each a long gaze, making sure we were acknowledging his exit before taking three steps back, and pushing back his shoulders slightly so that he was standing perfectly straight. And then, just like that, he was gone. Poof. I blinked twice at the empty spot where he'd just been standing, trying to figure out how he'd been there...and then now wasn't. It took me a good minute or so to relax again, accepting the fact that he had just disappeared before my very eyes.

"Well that guy was something else, huh?"

As soon as I spoke, Dean turned on me with a dark scowl. "What the hell is wrong with you, Ash?"

"What?" His sudden mood swing made me take a few involuntary steps backwards, staring at him with wide eyes.

"You didn't do anything when he showed up! You just stood there and let your feminine hormones take over! If you want to be a professional hunter you're going to have to learn where your priorities fall. Hooking up with every angel that poofs in to your life isn't one of them!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Dean was scolding me like he was the teacher and I was the student, standing sheepish in his office after getting distracted during class by some boy. But that was just it; this time, it hadn't just been _some boy._ Even still, I was pissed.

"Me? What about you?" I stepped forwards and jabbed my finger into his chest sharply. "I've heard about Dean Winchester's reputation with the ladies! You get a new girl with every case, isn't that right?"

His eyes narrowed. "This isn't about me, Ash. What if Castiel wasn't good, huh? You let him walk right past you to me and Bobby."

As if on cue, his lifeless body began to rouse on the floor, a gruff groan coming from deep in his throat. Both Dean and I fell silent when Bobby raised his face, blinking at us with a sleepy expression. "Did it get away?"

"No," Dean answered, shaking his head. "It's nothing evil. It's an Angel, Castiel. He's the one who pulled me up from hell."

Still recovering from his deep slumber, Bobby just stared at him. "Oh. And where is he now?"

"Gone, for now."

"Okay...good."

While Bobby struggled to his feet, Dean gripped my arm and pulled me aside, still looking furious. "I'm serious, Ash; next time we may not be so lucky. You're going to have to stop acting like such a... girl and be more like a hunter! You don't see Lily or Mira getting a gaga over guys while on a job, do you?"

_Yes, _I wanted to say smugly, _I do. In fact, it just so happens those boys they're getting gaga over is you are your brother. If you haven't noticed that yet then maybe you're the one who needs to get a bit more in tune. _I bit my tongue though, and just glowered at him.

"No, you don't," Dean answered himself wrongly with a shake of his head. "I never expected you, of all people, to fall for a guy, especially not an Angel. I thought you were better than that."

"Would you just shut up?" I was getting sick of him talking down to me. Giving him a hard push, I stalked away from him towards the doors of the building where Bobby's truck was parked outside. I heard him giving a loud, dramatic sigh from behind me, and mumble something unintelligent about "_women and their moods_" but I was done listening. Besides, I couldn't show it in front of Dean, but once safely inside Bobby's truck, I let my chest deflate slightly and a smile appear on my mouth.

Castiel.

Castiel's voice.

Castiel's eyes.

It wasn't such a bad thing that he was all I could think about, right? Everyone had their weaknesses, not that mine was a man. It was just his voice, and his eyes. Oh God that sounds so pathetic. But it's true. Castiel, I could tell, was going to be the one person who could make me smile for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

"_You just stood there and let your feminine hormones take over!_"

Feminine hormones... I almost laughed out loud, thinking about what Dean had said. I didn't feel anything towards Castiel besides fascination. That was it. Nothing more, nothing less. So how come I was still blushing ten minutes after he was gone?


	17. Seventeen Mira

17. Mira

Lily and I were lying awake in our beds when we heard a key jingling in the lock of the hotel room door, and knew Ash was home. She'd left us a note on the couch, saying that she had gone to "summon this Castiel chap with Dean and Bobby. Be home late. Don't wait up". Immediately we were worried sick, and tried calling her cell phone, as well as Dean's to see where they were. But neither of them picked up, so we were stuck waiting at the hotel for her to come home. What a _perfect _night to have decided to go and stock up on food. Any other night, and we wouldn't have to be worried about Ash being killed.

I sat up in bed when the door finally opened, and let in a stream of moonlight that spread across Lily and I's beds like a second blanket. Lily flipped off the television (we hadn't really been watching it; nothing good was on at 2am) and we both watched as Ash walked inside, her entire body erect and eyes looked glazed. She dropped her key onto the table by the door, and stumbled over to my bed, where she fell onto the end of it and began to cry.

I didn't know how to react. Ash never cried in front of us, if she even cried at all. Up until that point, I figured her tears dried up before reaching her eyes. But there she was, face down in the comforter on my bed, sobbing quietly. I reached out a careful hand, and touched her hair.

"Ash? Ash, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"No." she whispered, her voice muffled from my blankets. "I am not okay."

When she didn't elaborate, Lily and I exchanged confused glances.

"What is Castiel?" I asked, pushing onward.

She seemed to jerk slightly at the mention of his name, but then she let out a sigh, and muttered, "An Angel."

"An Angel?" Lily repeated doubtfully, and when Ash nodded, confirming this, I felt drained. None of us knew much about angels, or what they were capable of, besides seeing that this Castiel person had burned out the psychic's eyes. So what had it done to Ash to make her like this?

"Ashley." I said, using her full name to show her just how serious I was. She lifted her head slowly and looked at me, not even registering what I'd said. Bad sign. I continued anyway. "What did he do to you?" For a moment, it looked like she wasn't going to say anything. She continued staring at me, her eyes looking lifeless and dead. And then, they came to life.

"We set up all of these traps, but he came in, and got past them all...he was just so radiant, Mira! He walked in, and nothing could stop him. I just stood there. I didn't shoot, I didn't do anything. Dean attacked, and Bobby attacked, b-but I couldn't. I stood on the spot like an idiot. Dean stabbed him. I saw the blood, I saw the wound! But," Ash's eyes widened slightly, and she shook her head, looking amazed. "He just pulled it out. He was the voice... the one i heard at the hotel. It was so beautiful that I can't even... He knew my name, too. And the way he looked at me, he just..."She turned onto her side, staring up at the ceiling with a slight smile on her face. "It was just so incredible, guys. I wish you could have seen him."

After a moment's silence, Lily whispered, "Um, are you in love with an Angel?"

"No!" She sat up and retorted too quickly. Her eyes were wide, and she flopped back down after a moment. "Dean thinks I am, too. He's mad at me. Says I let my 'female hormones get in the way'. God, what an ass. I'm always serious about a hunt. And besides, there was no point in me even trying to fight Castiel. Bullets went right through him, knives did nothing, and he could walk right past about a million and one traps. He's like...invincible."

Lily's brows furrowed, and then she smiled. "So this Castiel guy really doesn't mean any harm then?"

Ash shook her head. "Nope."

"Are you sure?" I pressed with uncertainty. He did, after all, burn that psychic's eyes out.

Turning her head towards me, Ash gave me a dead serious look, and nodded slowly. "Yes, Mira. He absolutely means no harm to anybody. He brought Dean back from hell, and in all of the time we were in the building with him, the most he did to any of us was knock Bobby and I out. That was just so he could talk to Dean alone. I'm telling you, guys; Castiel's clean."

"So, Castiel..." Lily looked at me, and then smiled shyly at Ash. "Was he...you know, cute?"

Ash groaned. "He wasn't cute. At least, I don't think so. I don't know. I wasn't focusing on what he looked like. It was his presence that got to me. It was just...anyway, it made me not attack him."

"Sure." Lily said with a playful grin. "Whatever you say."

Ash glowered at her. "Go to bed or something."

"Maybe I want to hear more about Castiel and his presence."

As much as I was enjoying Ash's embarrassment as Lily was, I knew we needed our sleep, all of us. "Okay, Lily." I said, grinning at her. "I think she's had enough for one day. You can ask her all about it tomorrow. For now, we sleep."

* * *

><p>The next day, the six of us gathered to discuss what had happened to Ash, Dean and Bobby the night before. While they each explained the occurrence, Sam's face began to glow, like someone had just lit a candle inside of them. He sat up eagerly when Dean finished the story.<p>

"An _Angel_?" He asked. I knew he was pretty faithful, and he looked thrilled to hear such good news.

"Yeah. Hey, don't look so chipper yet, Sammy. I'm pretty sure the thing was lying." Dean sat back on the couch, looked annoyed. "It knocked out Bobby and Ash, and just 'cause it claims to be an Angel doesn't mean it is." I noticed the sharp look he pointed at Ash, who merely glared back at him. I winced, sensing the tense atmosphere in the hotel room.

Sam looked at me, his mouth opened and closing in a confused manner. "Well..." he dragged his gaze back to Dean's when I gave a helpless shrug. "Why couldn't it be an Angel?" Inside, my mind was churning. Angels? I didn't personally think it could be. Where had the Angels, where had _God _been when all of these terrible things happened to me, and to Lily and Ash, and Sam and Dean? If there really were such thing, how come they were sitting on the sidelines, watching us suffer?

Dean was scowling at his brother. "Angels don't exist, Sammy. Wouldn't a hunter have come across one by now?"

"He _was _an Angel, Dean." Ash's voice came sharp and daring, but with a slight reserve, as if she was trying to swallow but there was a lump in her throat. It seemed this particular topic was making an impact on her, one I'd really never seen before, especially not with Ash.

"Oh now don't let your personal feelings get in the way of your judgement." Dean muttered, giving her a sceptical and annoyed look.

Lily and I glanced at each other simultaneously. Uh oh.

Ash was leaning towards him instantly, eyes dark. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what it means."

Ash stared at him for a moment, her jaw clenched and breaths coming out in short, angry hisses through her teeth. Then, she drew back and rolled her eyes. "Are you talking about last night? I assure you I was _not _letting anything-"

Dean scoffed loudly, interrupting her. "Oh that's bull and you know it. You dropped your knife completely and let him walk _right by you_!"

"Angels obviously have a different effect on me than you, as evident by the fact that I could hear-"

At this, Dean began to laugh bitterly. "Why aren't you just the most special little snowflake? Maybe that's not an Angel, Ash! Maybe being able to hear him isn't a good thing! Hell, even if he is an Angel, hearing him is-"

Bobby stood up so quickly that I gave a quiet yelp when his boots hit the floor of the hotel room.

"Would you two chuckleheads shut up and get over here?"

Ash and Dean were still glowering at each other, obviously reluctant to venture over to where Bobby stood beside the desk he'd been sitting at, reading. But they eventually complied, walking side by side towards him.

"Now," Bobby said, sinking back down into his chair with a tired sigh. "I've been going through some books, and it turns out they all say an Angel is the only thing that can pull a soul from the pit." He turned around to look at Dean, giving a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Ain't nothing else got the power to do it."

Dean stepped off to the side, away from Bobby and his books without saying anything. Beside me, Lily rose from the couch and took a few cautious steps towards him, wringing her hands together nervously. "Dean... I think Bobby's right. I'm not sure, but it's kind of our best bet right now."

Sam nodded in agreement, getting to his feet and then motioning for me to come with him as he crossed the length of the room. "The facts are all there, Dean."

He sighed loudly, and turned around to face the five of us, standing behind him. "Okay, if there's Angels, that means there's a God, and I'm not sure about that. If there is a God, why does so much bad stuff happen to good people, huh?" His eyes were darting between all of our faces, as if daring us to try and answer him that. "Why do some bad people never get punished? It's not right."

No one said anything, but I was chewing on the inside of my cheek, pondering his words.

I cleared my throat. "You're right."

Dean looked momentarily grateful to have a person on his side. "Damn right I am."

"Is that really what you think, Mira?" I looked to my left at Sam, and nearly melted from the surprised, almost hurt expression he wore. Oh God... I froze, contemplating retracting my previous statement, but then, I nodded slowly, swallowing my anxiousness.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Sam. I just find it hard to believe we're being watched over."

"Mira, I didn't know you're agnostic." Lily looked from me, to Dean, as if making some sort of comparison that hadn't been apparent before.

I nodded sheepishly.

"I wasn't there to see him, so I don't really know all that's going on here, but if he's not an Angel," Lily paused, shaking her head. "Then what could he be? Think about it. He got past all of your traps, every single one, and Ruby's knife didn't work on him, right?"

Silence fell over the room.

Ash was the one who broke it, speaking up with a strong voice. "Who knows what the hell it was, okay? What we've got are facts. He wasn't a demon or a shape shifter..." something in her face, the expression that crossed it briefly made Bobby's eyes narrow.

"Ash, is there something you're not telling us?"

She didn't get a chance to answer; Dean cut in first.

"Maybe how she could hear his true voice, or how she woke up from his Angel mojo a lot faster than you did, Bobby. Or," Dean stopped, giving Ash a suspicious look. "Maybe it's how he called you a 'special person'. So which is it, Ash?"

I braced myself for some sort of snappy comeback or sarcastic remark with a sharp edge to it. But Ash shocked us all; she merely shoved her hands into her pockets with a small sigh and shrug. "I don't really know, Dean. I just... I don't have any idea why I could hear his voice or why I felt so...at the warehouse. But," she looked up at him. "I am not going to hold you back, I swear to that."

"Well," Dean said, after another moment of silence in the room. "I guess we'll get researching then."

We began researching Angels after Dean sent Sam out to the store to get us all some pie. I kept watching Ash rather than focus on the thick, hard-cover book I had opened in my lap. She looked very tight lipped and worried; her brow furrowed as she read. What was interesting, though, was that Dean's expression mirrored hers.

Lily slammed down another huge book with a sigh, rubbing at her eyes. "I'm beat. Let's take a break."

I nodded, closing my own book without marking the page I had been on. On the other side of Lily, Dean was staring at the door of the hotel room with hard eyes. "Where the hell is Sammy with that pie?" he asked grumpily. He got up off of the floor and brushed at his pant legs absentmindedly. "I swear, if he forgot my damn pie..."

"I'm tired of reading these books." Ash interrupted him with a low, tired tone to her voice. She set aside her books ("Angels, and the Chosen Who See Them) and then laid spread out on the floor with a groan. I grinned down at her as Bobby came into the hotel room.

"As soon as Sam gets back, we have a job to do." I noticed the shotgun and phone in his hands, as well as the worried look he was wearing. "Something's not right with a hunter I know. It's not like her to not answer her calls."

Dean sighed, looking furiously at the door now. "Come on, Sammy. I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry." Ash muttered as she reached for that book of hers again.

"You're always in a bitchy mood too. Let's get Sammy back here so I can shut you up with some pie."

A few minutes later, just when I thought I wouldn't be able to take anymore staring at musty, old book pages, the door to the hotel room opened and Sam entered. Dean was instantly on his feet and Ash muttered something unintelligent as he began demanding his pie.

"Pie?" Sam repeated with a dazed look in his eyes.

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"Dean, I-"

"Damn it, Sam! You had one job to do!"

Bobby stood up from his chair and gave Dean a rough shove to the side. "Would you shut up about your dang pie? I want to get out of here and go check on Olivia. She still isn't answering her phone." he scratched at his thick beard for a moment, eyes seeming lost. "This just ain't like her."

We followed Bobby in our van, which Dean was reluctant to ride in, just because it wasn't his Impala. He sat in the back with Lily, although since there were no seats, I could hear him being jostled from one side of the van to another. He grunted each time he was slammed into the wall, but I couldn't help it; it seemed like Ash was purposefully hitting the turns quickly.

Olivia's apartment was dead-quiet when we went inside, and immediately I felt unsettled. Bobby led the way, his pace quick and brisk as he ran from room to room, searching for his friend. We all gathered in the living room when he gave a painful moan, and the scene before me made me gasp, my hand flying up to my mouth.

The poor girl was absolutely mutilated


	18. Eighteen Mira

18. Mira

It could never be unseen; her ribs protruding out of her chest, and her face with a mix of pain, shock and guilt. I swallowed the bile in my throat and turned away to look at my companions. Sam was looking just as equally sick as I was, although he grimaced through it and crouched down beside the woman's body to examine her with Bobby. Lily wouldn't look at her at all.

I moved my gaze to Dean and Ash, and was surprised to see similar expressions on their faces; looks of stony, repressed emotions. It was funny sometimes, how simple it was to find the similarities between these two. Maybe that was why they fought so much.

It took us an hour to finish inspecting the scene, going over every nook and cranny in the woman's apartment before Bobby grew worried about another friend of his. I was grateful to get away from the apartment; the smell of blood was making me sick.

We split up this time, and went to separate houses, both being hunter friends of Bobby's who had neglected to pick up their phones. Ash, Lily and I saw a familiar sight in the house we were sent to. The man was on the couch, back arched up with his spine in a painful looking position and protruding against his skin, like a needle trying to push through fabric. His blood was everywhere, and I mean everywhere. For the second time that day, I had to clap a hand over my mouth to stop myself from getting sick.

"Damn it." Lily cursed, her face deathly pale and furious.

Ash walked over to the man, her sneakers squelching in the blood as she drew towards him. Her eyes travelled along his body, and she stared him down before turning away. "I don't think there's anything more to see here." She said quietly.

Outside, I called Sam, and found out that they had seen the same thing at their house, as well. Another dead hunter. He sounded distressed, but managed to compose himself for my sake. "We're heading back to Bobby's to do some more research. He thinks he's got the books we need. You girls are coming, right?"

"Yeah." I said, looking back at the van where Lily and Ash had already gotten inside and we waiting for me. "I want this case solved as much as Bobby does."

"It just doesn't make sense, you know? Hunters are the last people you ever expect to have something like this happen to."

Behind me, Ash thumped her fist against the horn of the van, giving me impatient gestures. I sighed, and turned my back to her, clutching my phone closer to my ear. "Well, whatever it is, we're going to find it, and kill it. I have to go. I'll see you at Bobby's."

"Right. Oh, and Mira?"

"Yeah?"

Sam hesitated, and when he spoke, he sounded anxious. "Just...just be careful."

"Alright, you too."

When I closed my phone, I remained standing where I was, staring at for a moment, and collected myself before walking back to the van. I gave Ash a slight shove into the middle so I could drive. She protested for a moment, and then caught sight of the look on my face.

"Mira, is something wrong?"

All I could think about was seeing Sam lying on the floor, or propped up against a couch, his insides spilled out for all to see. I turned my face away as I started the engine, swallowing tightly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Let's just get to Bobby's."

Halfway there, we passed a gas station where I saw the Impala was parked. Bobby was still quite a ways ahead of us, and I didn't want to think about him being alone at his house for too long, so I didn't stop and kept going. Another twenty minutes passed before my phone began to ring. I recognized the melody I'd set it to for that specific number; it was Sam.

I reached for it out of my pocket, keeping on hand on the wheel.

"No cells while driving." Lily said, sitting up when she saw what I was doing.

Ash gave her a quick elbow to the ribs before smiling at me. "I won't tell if you won't."

When I pressed my phone to my ear, Sam's voice came out in a rush without any sort of greeting. "These things, Mira, they're ghosts. Ghosts of people we couldn't save on the hunts. They've come back revenge, and Bobby's not answering his phone."

My stomach sank. People we couldn't save? There was no way I could shoot someone who had already died because of me.

"Mira? Mira are you there?"

"Yeah." I said quietly, and then cleared my throat. "When we get there, we'll all look for Bobby. We'd better hurry." I hung up my phone and stared out the windshield of the van, feeling like everything I'd forced away that day, every sickening feeling, was coming up my throat again.

As soon as the van was in park, I leapt out of it, and heard Lily and Ash following my actions. We gathered in a small clump in front of Bobby's house, each of us wearing the same, worried expressions. "Let's split up and call each other if we run into trouble." Lily suggested, already backing away to go check the side of the house. "Mira, you take the backyard, and Ash, you go inside. Okay?"

Nodding, I took off to the row of old cars Bobby had squeezed into his backyard, each rustier and older than the one before. Ash ran into the house, gripping a gun she had kept on her lap since I told her about Sam's phone call. Once inside, I could hear her cock it, just to be safe.

"Bobby!" I called, peering inside each dirty windshield I passed, hoping to see his face. "Bobby are you out here?"

After waiting a moment for a response, I rounded the corner to another row of cars, and stopped dead in my tracks, having come face-to-face with a small, pale girl. Her strawberry-blond hair was pulled back into two long, thin pigtails that hung on either side of her face, and she gave me a toothy grin. I recognized her instantly from a case Ash, Lily and I had hunted on not long after we had started hunting together. My stomach began to churn uneasily.

She continued staring at me with her unnaturally round, bright blue eyes that were brimming with shiny tears. Her bangs fell into those eyes, and her lower lip began to quiver and her smile faded away as she saw my face.

"Why?" She asked quietly. I took a step back, unable to speak. Her feet shuffled toward me awkwardly. "I was so young when that ghostie got me. It hurt, Mira. Why did you let it get me? You could have saved me." I began shaking as she spoke, my eyes widening in horror.

The worse part? She was right.

It had been the three of us against a ghost haunting a daycare. We fought it on the second floor of the building, trying to keep it from going downstairs where the children were. We managed to stop it, but it had already started a nasty fire. Ash, Lily and I barely got out in time, and one...one little girl was killed. It weighed down my conscious and haunted my every dream. And here she was, standing before me.

"You could have saved me!" She shrieked, continuing forward.

I was rooted to the ground, my chest heaving erratic, terrified breaths. "I...I couldn't!"

Reaching out, she sent her fist into my stomach. "Why didn't you protect me?"

I stumbled backwards, groaning, and clutching at my torso in pain. Inhaling deeply and hissing through the pain, I straightened up and reached for my gun so I could shoot her. The little girl had been watching my actions, and she yelled, "You would kill me twice, wouldn't you?"

No... I couldn't do it. It was wrong, and the guilt was already crushing on my chest like stacked cement blocks. Momentarily distracted, I lowered my gun, and the little girl kicked it out of my hand. Her shoe's clumpy heel left painful, bleeding scratches on my wrist.

"You let me burn to death alone!" she accused, bringing her bony little knee into my stomach, right in the same spot as her fist had gone before.

The pain became too much. I crumpled down the ground, tasting blood in my mouth and feeling as if a million knives were stabbing me from the inside, trying to get out. When I raised my eyes, the little girl was drawing herself up to her full height, and sent her foot into my ribs. I cried out, watching terrified as she brought her foot back to give another blow.

_Bang._

A shot rang out, and suddenly the girl disappeared, just as her foot neared my side. From my angle on the ground, I could just barely see Sam, standing there with a gun in his hands and his eyes focused on where the young girl had been, looking strong and determined. He put his gun away, and reached out a hand, helping me to my feet.

"Thanks." I said, wiping at the blood that dripped from the corners of my mouth.

Sam's eye brows pushed together worriedly at the sight of me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I winced at the pain in my stomach as I straightened up, and then asked, "Have you found Bobby yet?"

Sam looked like he was about to answer when something across from us caught his eye, and he fell silent, staring at it. When I followed his gaze, I saw that he was staring at mirror of a car. Without any explanation, Sam broke out into a run towards it.

"Hold on, Bobby!" he yelled, and I sprinted behind him, ignoring the pain that seared throughout my body.

He whipped out his gun again when he reached the car, and held it up to his face, firing two shots inside. I got there just in time to see Bobby struggling to an upright position, and diffusing the two, twin little girl ghosts with iron. When they disappeared, he exhaled loudly, and I noticed the beads of sweat that had gathered on his forehead.

"Come on." Sam helped him out of the car. "We should go find the others."

I cocked my gun, and gritted my teeth as we walked briskly over to Bobby's house, determined to be useful. A sudden yelp made us stop in our tracks, heads swinging around wildly to try and pin-point the source. It had come from inside. Just as we were starting up the porch steps, a gun shot rang out.

Inside, Ash, Dean and Lily stood in the kitchen, all armed with guns, shooting at each other's personal hauntings. By the time we got there, we saw the last ghost, (a dark man wearing an FBI, navy jacket) disappear.

Lily spotted us in the doorway, and melted with relief. "Oh good! You guys are okay!"

"Thanks to Sam." I said, nodding at him.

Ash was looking pleased with herself, and grinned at me, nodding over her shoulder at where Dean stood, looking dishevelled and tired. "Hey Mira, you'll never guess who I just saved-"

"Oh, and like I didn't have to save your ass, too!"

At this, my smile had faded into a pondering frown. I wondered fleetingly what could have been haunting Ash. I didn't have time to ask, though, because Bobby stepped into the middle of the kitchen with a determined look blazing in his eyes.

"Follow me." he said, motioning to a door just off the kitchen that had a padlock on it. "I've got a safe room we can stay in to figure out a plan."

I watched Dean and Lily, hand-in-hand, lead the way to the basement, Ash and Bobby following close behind. I was going to do the same, but Sam lingered in the kitchen, blocking my path. "Let me see your wrist, Mira." he said softly, but firm.

"It's nothing, really-"

"Mira."

I sighed, giving in, and held out my wrist for him to see. Sam held my forearm gently as he examined the long cuts the little girl had left, and then reached out to grab a dish towel off of Bobby's counter. He carefully wrapped it around the cuts, and gave it a light squeeze so the bleeding would stop. "There." Sam murmured, pulling back to give me an exasperated mile. "Now let's go see that safe room."

Downstairs, I found myself surrounded by thick, metal-looking walls without a single window or light bulb. The only source of light came from a small opening at the very top of the room, and even then, there was only slight blades of sunlight pouring through, just enough so I could see everyone's faces. I looked around at the bed, and the weapons, as well as the cupboards of food and other items the room harboured, feeling overwhelmed.

"Bobby... is this a panic room from the Supernatural?"

He nodded, surveying the room proudly. "Yup. Walls are made entirely out of iron and coated in salt."

"You're awesome." Dean said with a grin. His head swivelled the contents of the room, landing on an old poster of a scantily clad movie star that had been tacked up on the wall. His grin widened. "Oh Bobby, you sly dog."

Bobby looked away, mumbling something incoherent, and then began pulling books from a nearby shelf. I sat down on the bed, and heard the springs groan as Sam sat down beside me. Unexpectedly, my cheeks began to get warm, and I looked away shyly, focusing instead on Ash.

She paced in the middle of the room furiously, back and forth, back and forth. I knew she didn't like it down there. Something about enclosed spaces seemed to make her nervous, although it was possible something else was making her like that. If so...then what? Lily noticed this as well, and cautiously touched her shoulder, stopping her pacing.

"You okay, Ash?"

"Yeah, fine." She turned away from Lily, and grabbed a book herself, leaving it at that.

I followed her lead, and sat back on the bed with a thick book that felt especially heavy in my hands, with my weak wrist being slightly shaky from the pain. The panic room fell silent as its occupants poured over books.

I was beginning to feel like slamming the book shut and giving in to my drooping eyes, falling asleep on the bed when something caught my attention. "Oh, look at this." I said aloud, poking a finger to my page so I wouldn't lose my place. Sam leaned over, his face unusually, but not uncomfortably, close to mine, as he peered at the pages.

"Well, what is it?" Dean asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but Bobby came over and took my book before I could, skimming the page I'd been on. He began to nod, and then sighed, closing it again. "The rising of the witnesses." He said, rubbing at his eyes tiredly.

"What?" Ash asked absentmindedly, already on her feet and pacing again. Why wouldn't she sit still?

Bobby looked down at the book in his hands again, eyes skimming across the pages. "It's the first step towards the apocalypse. Shown in a small little book you may know as Revelations."

"The Apocalypse?" Lily repeated with wide eyes, looking over at Dean who wore a grim expression. "You've got to be kidding. Like, four horesemen, rain of fire?"

Across the room, Bobby was absorbed in his book, and it took him a minute before answering. "That's what it looks like. There's a sure fire way to stop the cursed spirits, which is what they are; cursed. I think I've got a spell that can send them back." Lifting his face, he gave a quick nod at his book and then shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

"And all the things we need are in here?" Dean asked, his gaze sweeping around the room.

"What? You think our luck was just going to start now?"

Dean opened his mouth, and closed it again, looking sheepish.

"Most of what we need is upstairs." Bobby muttered, and then he sighed. "We'll split up to get them. The sooner we do, the better."

He assigned us each an ingrediant that was located somewhere in his house above us, making sure we all had a shotgun at the ready before we ventured up the stairs. Afterwards, we were to meet back in the library to cast the spell. My job was to find a mineral component in Bobby's personal study; the farthest room of the house, away from everyone else.

My palm began to sweat against the metal of my gun as the group of us divided, each going our seperate ways. Sam cast me a "be careful" look before heading up the stairs to the top floor with Ash in tow, each having their own rooms to go to. I didn't like being alone, but I was determined to show everyone I would be able to take care of myself. I knew Ash and Lily had a tendancy of thinking I was the weaker girl of the group. This was my chance to prove them wrong.

Bobby's study was a tiny room, no bigger than a bathroom probably, that was lined with shelves of books, old dusty looking ones, as well as about a hundred or so maps tacked up on the walls. I stepped inside cautiously, my head turning wildly to check each and every corner before entering fully. The coast was clear. Or, so I'd thought. As soon as I was in the middle of the room, a man appeared in front of me, right out of the air.

"Remember me?" He asked darkly.

"Y-yeah!" I stammered, stumbling backwards. "But we got that demon out of you! You survived!"

This was the vessel that the demon had been using the night we exorcised it, and met Sam and Dean. I knew for a fact that he had been alive; I walked him to his car! So why was he standing in front of me in the form of a ghost?

Slowly, the man shook his head. "Actually, no. I was left so emotionally scarred and confused... no one explained to me where I had been for months, or what happened. In that time, my wife had moved on to another man, thinking I was dead." His eyes grew distant, probably remembering. "I was alone. So alone. You have no idea what it feels like, living in an empty house without a soul to keep you company. I couldn't take it anymore, and I killed myself."

He raised a hand to touch his neck absently, and I noticed for the first time the noose that hung limp around it. When our eyes met, his grew hard, accusing. "You could have explained what happened to me." He whispered, and then louder, "you could have helped me! This is your fault! You're the reason I'm dead!"

Eyes wide, I glanced behind him. There was the mineral, sitting on the edge of a shelf. But to get to it, I was going to have to shoot this poor man in front of me...

"I was left with that _thing _inside of me for months!" He continued, taking a step towards me with his hands curled into fists at his sides.

Focus! He's a ghost, being forced to do this. He doesn't feel this way, and he'll be at rest if you shoot him. So do it, Mira. Shoot.

Swallowing tightly, I raised my gun.

"You let me leave, confused and-"

Bang.

I didn't notice I was trembling until the remaining bullets in my gun began to rattle with my actions. Staring at the empty air in front of me, I lowered it again, letting out a shaky breath of relief. I grabbed the mineral off the shelf, making a run for the library before any other ghosts could appear.

I found Dean, Sam, Lily, Ash and Bobby already there when I arrived, encircled with ghosts. They shot at random, most missing the ghosts but after a few minutes of constant shooting, they were alone again. I waited until I was sure all of the ghosts were gone before going inside, throwing Bobby the ziplock pack of crushed minerals I'd retrieved.

Dean had his back to the man who appeared behind him, the same man from earlier with the FBI jacket.

"Look out!" Lily cried, lifting her gun and shooting the agent before he could touch Dean.

I finally realized who he was; it was agent Hendrickson, the man who had held us prisoner while we were in trouble with the law. I was sure there was a story as to why he was haunting Dean, why he was even dead in the first place, and I made a mental note to ask about it later.

It was almost as if the shot had given each ghost a personal invitation to appear again. I joined the circle with the others as they swarmed us, and took shots at random with them, hoping I was killing rather than missing. A short, blond haired girl stared towards Sam while he was busy aiming at the twins from earlier with Bobby. I raised my gun, and shot the bullet right through her head.

Sam startled at the noise so close to him, and then gave me an impressed smile as he realized what I had done. I glowed with accomplishment, but it only lasted so long before I was forced to focus my attention on the spirits again.

Ash gave a sudden yelp, and stepped backwards, bumping into my side.

I turned to see a ghost of a man making his way towards her. He was decaying and rotten looking, with a hole in the back of his head. I inhaled sharply just at the sight of him, forgetting all about shooting and continued staring, unable to retract my eyes no matter how much I desperate wanted to.

Lily shot him before he reached either of us, shouting something about staying focused. I made a second mental note to ask Ash about him, because I had no idea who he was, and it was eating at me.

Almost at the same time, we all ran out of ammo. I heard Ash and Dean cuss, throwing their shotguns to the ground. Bobby was quick to pass out the iron bars he'd brought upstairs with him, and when I grabbed mine, I felt something touching my hair. I turned quickly, and saw the small girl from the school fire standing in front of me. Her hand in my hand began to pull firecly, painfully. I brought up the bar to take a swipe at her, but Dean (who had grabbed the components of the spell when his gun ran out of ammo) finished throwing them into the fireplace.

A blinding flash of blue light cleared the library of all of the ghosts, each and every last one of them. As soon as I felt my hair being freed from the girl's tight grip, I collapsed against a nearby book shelf, exhausted. I let my bar clatter onto the ground without much interest, and closed my eyes, listening as a few people laughed nervously out of the adrenaline rush from nearly being killed. I smiled myself. There we were; tired, but alive.

* * *

><p>That night, rather than finding a motel to stay at, Lily, Ash and I decided to stay at Bobby's, gathering blankets from his guest bedrooms upstairs and sleeping on the hard ground of the library. Any other night, it would have been uncomfortable. But we all just wanted to rest, and I'm sure if it ws the only option, we would have slept on cement blocks.<p>

I wished I could have slept. But for an hour I laid awake, eyes wide on the ceiling above me, thinking about that little girl as everyone else snored around me. She had been so young, so innocent. What if she was going to go on to be the first woman President, or discover a cure for cancer? She'd never fall in love, she would never have her first kiss, or get her license, or expirience life as an adult, let alone a teenager. Tears began brimming in my eyes, and I turned my face to the side, sniffling.

Beside me, Lily had shifted sometime during her sleep, curling up next to Dean's chest while breathing heavily, having never been known to snore. I could see Dean, also asleep, wearing a slight smirk as if even in an unconscious state, he knew what was occuring.

Curiously, I lifted my head, and looked over top of Ash's sleeping figure to Sam, who'd chosen to sleep respectively next to Dean; away from the girls. I exhaled slowly, watching him breathe in a steady rythm. He was so beautiful when he slept; eye lashes casting long spider-like shadows on his smooth cheeks, and his usually scrunched, worried forehead relaxed while he dreamt.

I must have fallen asleep watching him, because suddenly I was jolting up right, having been awoken to Dean and Ash arguing. No surprise there.

"You need to just stay out of my head, you hear?" Dean roared, standing up so he could tower over Ash who remained seated on the ground with an annoyed look on her face.

"Oh, you think I _wanted _to overhear that cheerful little conversation?"

"Obviously you did, or you wouldn't have eavesdropped!"

Ash snorted. "I can't control it if I-"

"Castiel is-"

"Oh for the love of _God_, please shut up." I rubbed at my eyes, and was surprised to find that the arguing had stopped, and Both Dean and Ash were looking at me, like they had forgotten they weren't the only two people in the room. I saw this as my chance. "Now, can you two both _calmly_" I enunciated this so they understood, "tell me what is going on?"

Dean sighed, and then said, "Last night, our little fluffy-winged friend decided to pay me a visit. In my dream. It was kind of a _private _conversation, but then he walks over to her," he pointed to Ash accusingly, who crossed her arms around her chest, a sign I recognized as defensive, "knelt down and says, 'You should be asleep, Ashley'. Then he leaves."

I raised my eye brows at Ash, who was glowering darkly at Dean as he finished.

"When she woke up, she _remembered _it happened just like I did!"

"Yeah well I can't control it if I wake up and hear him talking about the freaking apocalypse!" Ash exploded, clambering to her feet so she and Dean were closer to being eye-level; she didn't like it when people spoke down to her. "And after hearing that Satan may be walking the Earth if we don't stop him really makes me want to ignore you and just go back to bed!"

I was suddenly wide awake. "Wait, what?"

"Good job easing them into it." Dean muttered under his breath.

"Castiel," Ash said his name with a slight tone in her voice that I couldn't help but notice was a bit off, "said the demons are trying to raise Hell on Earth by breaking sixty-six seals... and if we...if the Angels can stop those seals from being broken, we'll be okay." She looked down at Lily, who had begun to stir in her sleep. "That's why they're here, I guess."

When I swallowed, my throat felt bone dry. The apocalypse? This was-

"Heavy," Ash said, as if she had read my thoughts. "I know. But I remain hopeful. Besides Dean, it's not like I'd be in your head if I had a choice. I imagine it's a scary place." I'm sure she meant it as a joke, but Dean turned away, a sombre feeling blanketing the room.

When he spoke, it was so quiet that I wasn't sure if I had heard him right.

"You have no idea..."


	19. Nineteen Lily

19. Lily

The next few cases passed by quickly without a hitch. At that point, Mira, Ash and I had pretty much started considering the hotel by Bobby's our surrogate home, although we still travelled far and wide for different cases. I even heard Ash and Mira refer to the hotel room as "home" once or twice, but they dened it when I asked. It's not good to get too comfortable, because at any minute, we might have to pack up everything and move over a couple of states. It was better to just consider the rooms as only that; rooms.

Since the first seal was broken, we'd gone on several cases, but we hadn't heard much from the angles, or Bobby since then. I personally made sure to stay connected with the Winchesters, by emailing them every chance I could. The news was always the same: they were still searching for Lillith without much success.

After we finished a particularly gruesome case involving a demon, (Ash killed the vessel during the exorcism and the demon itself managfed to scrape the three of us up pretty good) we decided to meet up with the Winchesters. I wouldn't admit this to Ash, but honestly, I missed Dean, and I knew for a fact Mira missed Sam as well. ash sure pretended to be annoyed with them a lot whenever I brought them up, but I think she was eager to see them too, since it was her who suggested we try and find him.

Two days before Halloween, we did.

Actually, they found us.

I recieved a phone call not long after midnight one evening, while I was up on my laptop, and it was Dean, asking if we could come meet them. He said he didn't have long to talk, but that he and Sam had caught wind of a new case and wanted our help on it.

"Sure." I'd replied almost instantly, and then cleared my throat, trying not to sound too eafer. "I mean, I guess we could."

"Great. See you then. Bye, Lily-Pad."

I was the one driving the van to go meet up with them, and I think both Mira and Ash noticed how quickly and anxiously I was handling the rode. Ash kept raising her eye brows at the spedometer, muttering under her breath about watching the speed limit. Of course I wasn't speeding, but I knew I was pretty damn close. I was just so anxious to see them again. It made me feel...safe, to be working with them, as if while we were together, we were out of harm's way. Which is a funny way to look at it, especially since whenever we're around eahc other, we're working on some dangerous case.

As I pulled the van into the designated gas station, I noticed that we were there before Sam and Dean were. The Impala was nowhere in sight. I parked the van, and took the keys out of the ignition, straining my neck to see the road off to the side of us.

"Don't look too eager now." Ash muttered, as she reclined her seat back and relaxed her aviators over her closed eyes. "Guys don't like clingy girls."

I gave her an annoyed expression. "I'm not eager. I'm just...wondering where they are, that's all."

"Mhmm..."

"Hey Lily," Mira gave me a nudge from the middle seat. "Do you have money on your? We've been driving all night, and I'm starving."

I nodded, and unbuckled, getting out of the van with her following. Inside the gas station, we walked among the scarce shelves, grabbing whatever looked good which was generally the crap food. As we headed up to the register, arms full of soda and snacks, I caught sight of a tack board up on the wall beind the employee's head. I only glanced at the advertisements and flyers for a moment before noticing something, and ripping a sheet off.

"What is it?" Mira asked without looking, as she paid the man and began gathering our purchases again.

I could see the employee giving me a curious look, eying the paper I'd torn off, and I didn't feel much like explaining myself to him. So I hurriedly thanked him, and grabbed Mira's arm, dragging her out of the station.

"Lily!" She wriggled out of my grip before we reached the van, and turned on me with an annoyed expression. "Would you _please _tell me what's going on?"

I handed her the sheet I'd grabbed without saying anything, and watched as the looked at it, her eyes gradually growing wider. I'd already read it twice myself, and knew it off-by-heart. It wasn't hard to imagine what parts she was reading, just from her changing expression:

_Wanted: Ashley Elsberry for the charges of murder, assisted murder, credit card fraud, monetary scams, assault and theft. She is considered armed and dangerous. If spotted, keep distance, and call 911 immediately. She is a deranged and violent individual who is still at large. All are asked to take nessisary precautions in protecting themselves. A rewartd is offered for assit in her arrest._

Below the description were two pictures of Ash. One was from when she was younger, obviously a high school photo, taken while she was glaring up at the camera with bloodshot eyes. Her hair looked positively awful, like someone had come at it with garden scissors, and it looked poorly dyed an obvious fake-black. The second picture was a more recent one, _very _recent. It was from our time in jail, looking to be a security camera shot of her and Hendrickson. She wa slooking off to the side as he spoke down to her, a smirk on her face.

"This is Ash." Mira said, looking from the poster to the van, where she remained in her seat, sleeping, no doubt. "How come there's a WANTED poster for Ash?"

I didn't answer, mostly because I didn't have on prepared, and began speed-walking back to the van. As we approached, Ash lowered her glasses, watching. "You guys looked pissed about something." she commented with a slight, amused tone. "Nothing good in there?"

"Look at this." Mira said, handing her the paper.

"What the...?" as she read it, her eye brows puckered, seeming confused. "Assult? Really? Who have I assulted recently?"

I slid back into the driver's seat, rubbing my eyes. "I don't know, but this is going to make things a hell of a lot harder."

"Yeah," Mira agreed, taking a seat herself. "Look, maybe you should lay low for awhile."

Ash gave a dramatic sigh, but eventually agreed, pocketing the paper without another word.

I looked out at the long stretch of the road, at the odd car that passed, and felt myself growing increasingly worried. They were late. What if they weren't coming? What if something happened? Should I call them? Just as I was reaching for my phone, though, I heard the familiar sound of a rumbling engine, and felt a smile spreading across my face as I caught sight of a Chevy Impala making its way towards us.

Something inside of me gave a great leap when I made out the shape of Dean in the driver's seat, parking his car beside our van. We got out at the same time, meeting awkwardly in the space between the two vehicles.

"Hi." I said shyly, and then nodded behind him at an approaching Sam. "How's it going?"

Dean fell against the hood of his car without breaking our gaze. "Lily, good to see you."

My cheeks flamed as other greetings were made. Nothing really changes, does it? Dean Winchester still made me blush like an idiotic teenage girl, and he still loved it; same old, same old. I have to admit though, I wasn't terribly eager for it to ever differ. The familiarity of our routine was comforting, really.

"Hey guys." Ash clambered out of the van and lowered her sun glasses, giving each Winchester a quick nod of her head. "So it looks like the gang's back together again."

Dean snorted.

"Jinkies." I muttered under my breath, and caught Mira's gaze with a wink. She coughed into her hand, trying to cover up a laugh.

Ash, though, seemed confused. "What?"

"Scooby-Doo, man." Sam laughed, shaking his head. "That's Fred's line."

"What the hell is 'Scooby-Doo'?" she sounded annoyed now, letting her glasses fall back over her eyes.

Sam's smile faded. "You've never watched Scooby Doo?"

"I wasb't able to watch TV when I was grounded!"

Mira gave a sly smile. "Which was most of the time, right?"

"Whatever. You guys have a case?" Ash glowered darkly at the Winchesters, as if daring them to bring up the television show again.

Sam cleared his throat, and then nodded, bringing out a newspaper from inside the Impala. He read it aloud as the wind rustled the sheets, causing him to pause every few moments to gather it tigher in his hands. But the headline was all we really needed. "Man dies of razorblades found in candy."

My brows furrowed, and I turned to look at Dean. "You think this is up our alley? I mean, there are some really sick people in the world." I shrugged my shoulders. "There's been lots of stories of hidden razor blades in food."

Despite this, Dean shook his head. "You'd have to be pretty hungry to eat one razor-blade chocolate and keep going. They found four in the guy." He reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out a chocolate candy, popping it into his mouth.

Mira grimmaced. "You're eating chocolate after what happened to that man?"

"I'll tell you as soon as it starts tasting a little sharp."

As he continued munching, I noticed Ash edging closer to him, eying up the treat. I laughed. "You might want to hold back on the candy in front of her, Dean. She's got a mad sweet tooth." I'd learned that one Halloween when she personally scared four little children into dropping their bags, thus giving Ash a midnight snack. I don't exactly know what it is she did or said to them that made them run, but knowing Ash, it could have been anything, as long as she got her candy.

Dean looked at her, and then rolled his eyes, tossing her a chocolate from the depths of his pocket.

"We should get going." I said, stepping around him to peer at the paper. "Where's the crime scene?"

Sam glanced at our van, and then back at me. "Only about an hour away. Just follow us, and we'll lead you there."

* * *

><p>Mira drove the van while Ash lounged in the back, sleeping sloudly. She began mumbling in her sleep, but I could barely make out any words, other than the odd one: "...stial...levator...uck". I turned back around in my seat after spending five minutes listening to her, and then squinted at the road ahead of us, where I could just make out the tail lights of the Impala. With a sigh, I reached underneath my seat, and brought out my journal, deciding to take a moment and write in it.<p>

Each one of us kept our own, private journal. We weren't supposed to read each other's, but on more than one occasion, I'd seen both Mira and Ash's. My journal contained all of our adventures, written down as stories. Before I became a hunter, I was always writing, and I was determined to keep that part of me. I can admit that most of the stories were pretty cheesy, some even being my dreams about Dean.

Mira's journal was your standard, hunter's notebook, containing all sorts of information about the supernatural, and creatures we've faced. I'd read it a few times, although hers wasn't anything special to me, since I already knew everything that it contained, and only read it to brush up when there was no internet available for my laptop. Still, her journal meant a lot to her. On the back cover, "10.12.08 _Never Forget_" was etched into the leather in shaky scrawl.

It was Ash's journal that really surprised me. I'd figured that someone like her would probably keep tabs of all the things that she'd killed, with maybe a note or two about how she did it. Perhaps there might have even been a cheesy love poem about a certain Angel that she refused to speak of, although I was positive I'd heard her mumble his name once or twice in her sleep. But no. Her journal contained a very, huge list. She wrote in small, almost nonlegible letters up and down in neat rows on each page. They were the names of every victim killed by a supernatural creature that she had heard of, or come across. I knew even before she told me that that was what kept her motivated.

Having been so absorbed in my own thoughts, I didn't notice when Mira had pulled over, parking the van in the middle of, well, suburbia.

I climbed out of the van, sheilding my eyes from the harsh sunlight to check out the clone houses that lined each side of the street. It was such a family friendly neighbourhood, the kind a person never imagined a murder occuring in. It seemed lately that was where they were all happening.

"Let's head inside." Mira said, coming around beside me and checking over her shoulder to make sure Ash was up and moving.

She stuck her head out the window of the van. "I'm going to wait this one out, guys."

"Good idea." I nodded at her. "You're still WANTED."

"Right...that's why." Ash rolled her eyes, and collapsed back inside the van. A moment later, she began to snore. Typical.

I smiled to myself, and then followed Mira up the steps of the home, walking quickly to catch up with Dean and Sam who were already inside, questioning the wife of the victim. I reached for my FBI badge just as I caught sight of the body, and fought back the sickening feeling in my stomach. It was a very gruesome sight.

The wife paused during her quesitioning to look over at Mira and I, hovvering beside the body without touching it.

"Are you two agents as well?" She asked quietly.

I quickly showed her my badge, and then nudged a green-looking Mira to do the same. I suppose we didn't look terribly professional, so to reassure her we were, I swallowed my disgust, and bent down beside the body, examining it closer. Mira caught on, and reluctantly did the same. After a moment, the wife decided we were who we said we are, and then turned back to Sam and Dean.

"This is just awful." Mira muttered, giving the body a quick once-over before turning her face away. "Do you see his throat? It's just...oh God."

"Yeah." I straightened up again, and placed my hands on my hips, surveying the length of the room. There wasn't anything strange or out of place as far as I could tell, until my eyes landed on the sofa. There was a small pouch, just about the size of my fist, sticking out underneath it, just barely out of sight.

As I grabbed for it, Mira came up beside me, and whispered, "What'd you find?"

Without answering her, I nodded towards the door, and she understood, heading back outside. "Well agents." I said loudly, and Dean and Sam stopped their questioning to look atme. "I think that about wraps up this investigation." I slowly moved my arm to slip the pouch into my pocket, just enough time for Sam and Dean to see it, but not the wife.

Dean's eyes widened, and then he nodded at me. "Right, right. Well, thank you for your time." He touched the shoulder of the wife before following Sam and I out the door.

At the van, Mira had woken Ash, and they were both resting against the doors, waiting for us.

"What'd you find?" Sam asked, and I handed him the hex bag, which he took gingerly.

I turned to Dean. "Did Mr. Wallace have any enemies?"

"Nah, I asked ad if he did, the wife didn't know about them."

I watched Sam examine the hex bag for a moment before sighing, and running my hand through my hair tiredly. "Well, we might as well head back to the hotel and see what's inside that thing." Sometimes, the contents gave vague clues as to what the murder could have been about. Or, sometimes, they didn't. Only one way to find out.

As we climbed back into the van, Ash gave me an annoyed look. "Dear GOD that was boring. How long do I have to stay out of the cases for?" She strapped into the middle seat, and crossed her arms over her chest, blowing her bangs out of her eyes.

"Just until the hype dies down a bit and a new psychopath comes up." Mira smiled at her as she turned the key in the ignition, and the van roared to life.

Ash scowled. "Why thank you, Mira, for calling me a psychopath."

She remained sullen the entire way back to the hotel, refusing to give her input as Mira and I discussed the hex bag. The only time she spoke was to book us a hotel room beside Sam and Dean's. She seemed alright once we were settled in, and she had no problem chosing her bed. I, unfortunately, was on Ash duty, as Mira and I called it. Neither of us liked sleeping beside her. She punched and kicked and talked so much, it was hard to get a good night's rest. But I wasn't up for arguments at that point. I just wanted to go over to the guy's room and open up the hex bag.

"You guys got any candy left?" Ash asked as she entered the room, and without waiting for an answer, she picked up the plastic bag off Dean's bed and stole some from inside.

Dean snatched the candy away, ignroing the testy look he recieved from Ash.

I sat down beside him on his bed, and noticed that Sam had opened the hex bag, and placed it on the table between them. "Did you find anything good?" I asked.

Sam nodded, and began numbering off what he had retrieved from inside. "Well, there's gold thread, a herb that's been extinct for two-hundred years...and his is Celtic." He picked up an old looking coin from the bedside, and then shrugged his shoulders, peering closely at it. "Or, it's a new age knockoff. But It looks like the real deal, six hundred years old... Oh, and that is the hcarred, metacarpal bone of a newborn baby." He finished, just as Dean had picked up the bones. He dropped it quickly.

Mira frowned. "Did any babies go missing recently?"

Beside her, Sam shook his head, looking down at the bones. "Nah, this one's over a hudnred years old."

"Witches, man." Dean unwrapped another chocolate and shook his head, looking disgusted. "They're so friggin' schemey."

The room fell silent, and I looked at the hex bag once before before sighing. "Well, at least we know now the one we're dealing with is strong. Really strong. It's a good thing we decided to team up for this one." Beside me, Dean pushed himself up against the cheap hotel pillow positioned at the head of his bed, and nodded, sighing contently as he relaxed.

"Dean, did you find anything more on the victim?" Sam asked, giving his brother a questioning look.

"This Luke Wallce? He was so vanilla he made _vanilla _seem spicy." Dean sighed. "I can't find any reason why someone would want this guy dead."

* * *

><p>Later that night, after hours of relentless research on hex bags and the witches who created them, I was becoming restless. So, while Ash and Mira remained in the hotel room with the television on, I slipped out onto the balcony. The air was crisp and cool against my face, just the right autumn tempature. It filled my lungs, and carried with it the smell of freshly fallen leaves. I closed my eyes contently as my hair blew softly in the gentle breeze. It was times like that when I really paused life and took time to recollect.<p>

"Hey." Mira came up beside me, and leaned over the railing, grinning at me. "Only one day until Halloween, eh? I almost miss being a kid, dressing up and getty candy."

I laughed. "I'm surprised that Ash and Dean aren't dressing up, as childish as they both are."

For a moment, Mira just smiled, turning her face towards the empty stretch of road that was our balcony view. The silence that ensued wasn't awkward, but rather pleasent in an odd way. I inhaled deeply, and rested my arms on the balcony rails, thinking quietly to myself.

"Did you dress up?" Mira asked suddenly. "As monsters, and witches, before you knew that they were real?"

"Oh yeah, monsters and ghouls were my style back then."

She narrowed her eyes and gave me a knowing grin. "You were the princess type, weren't you?"

"Every year."

Mira laughed, and then her smile slowly faded as she sighed. "I used to dress up like ghosts, monsters, zombies... We hunt it, I dressed up as it." She paused, and then turned her body so she was facing me. "Do... do you ever wish we'd never learned the truth? About, well, everything?"

So many times I had thought of the same thing, and I always came to the same conclusion. "Yeah," I said quietly, "I do. But, I try and see things on the brighter side, you know? I mean, we've saved so many people, made some good relationships; the way I see it, I'm so busy that I don't have time to feel sorry for myself." Sometimes, I still did, but I didn't tell Mira this, or that sometimes I lay awake at night, wondering what I'd be doing at that moment if I were still oblivious to the world I lived it and who I shared it with.

Mira nodded, following my train of thought. "Yeah, but... I don't know. I wonder a lot about what the future holds. Everything has become so hard recently." She sighed, pushing away from the railing. "Sam's hanging out with that Ruby, and acting all weird." As she spoke, I tried to recall any moments where Sam would act our of the ordinary, but I was coming up with nothing. That was Mira for you, I suppose; always paying closer attention than any of us.

"Hey, chin up, okay?" I forced a smile, although I'm sure it wavered slightly. "Things can only get better from here. Besides, Ruby is bad news. You know it, I know it, everyone but Sam knows it." I looked back out at the road, my eye brows furrowing as I spoke. "Sooner of later, she's going to get ganked, and that'll be the end of that."

"I hope so." Mira murmured, and then she touched my shoulder. "I'm going back in. You coming?"

"In a minute. I'm just going to get some air first."

Once she was safely back inside the hotel room, I leaned over the railing again, closing my eyes. It's hard to convince someone something that you yourself aren't entirely convinced of.

* * *

><p>The next morning, the alarm went off at nine. I rose groggily from my bed, having missed a few hours of sleep after spending so much time on the balcony. When I looked around the room, Mira was already up and dressed, rummaging through the clothes we'd brought in from the van.<p>

"Jesus, Mira." I rubbed my eyes sleepily, and shook my head. "How do you do it?"

She straightened up, holding a pair of my dark jeans in her hands. "I just do, I guess. Hurry up and shower, okay?"

Easy for her to say. She was already awake and ready to go, while I was still half asleep, half awake. I suppose that was better than Ash, who by the time I got out of the shower and dressed for the day, she was _still _sleeping soundly in our bed. I walked over to the alarm clock that was positioned beside her, and turned on the radio, blasting some local radio station. A male voice sang out, and Ash startled, opening her eyes and focusing a heated glare on me.

"You are the worst kind of person, Lil." she reached out her hand and smacked the radio off the desk, causing it to fall on the ground, still playing. "Son on a bitch, piece of..." She began cussing and swung her legs around the mattress, getting up to grab the radio and fumble with the buttons for a second before managing to shut it off.

I finished buttoning up my cardigan, and looked over my shoulder at her as Mira and I headed towards the door. "Better hurry up, Ash. Breakfast in fifteen."

As we closed the door behind us, Mira and I were met with Dean and Sam, who both wore sullen expressions. "No breakfats this morning." Sam said, nodding at our room. "Better get Ash; there's been another strange death."

* * *

><p>By the time we arrived at the crime scene (the basement to a large, pleasent looking house that had been home to what looked like a pretty wild party) there were already police investigating, and interviewing witnesses. I glanced around the basement, at the discarded red cups and various teenagers dressed in costume looking both disturbed and shocked. A particular girl caught my eye, and evidently, Dean's as well. She was a tall, blond cheerleader, standing closest to us.<p>

"Oh, I've got this one." Daan said, pushing his way between Sam and Mira to walk over to her.

Sam sighed. "Two words, man: Jail bait."

"I would _never_."

As Dean continued over to the girl, I shot him a dirty look, watching as he began takling smoothly to her. She couldn't be more than maybe a year out of high school, and yet there he was. What a jerk. I sighed, and turned my back on him, offering to help Sam look for the hex bag we all knew would be there. Girls don't just boil while bobbing for apples every day.

Just as I was venturing over to a table filled with empty snack bowls, an officer stepped in front of me, raising his eye brows. "Who are you?"

"Agent Benatar, FBI." I held up my badge for him to see, and waited as he studied it before he stepped back, acceping it to be real.

He was a shorter man, still taller than me though, and strongly built. His jaw was angular with a set, hard looking feel to it. I noticed, though, that his eyes were calm and a very deep brown, looking like warm chocolate. His hair was the same colour, clean cut, just like Dean's. His mouth had smile lines, also like Dean, and he looked about my age.

He smiled suddenly, and I felt myself redenning as I cautiously smiled back.

"So," he said, looking around the room and then back at me. "Have you found anything?"

I cleared my throat slightly before answering. "Er, not yet... we're just doing a quick run through, just in case anything was missed. You know, protocol."

"Yeah, I hear you. Freaking weird though. Guess that's why they call the unit 'Special Investigations', huh?" He gave a small laugh, to which I nervoulsy returned, although I kept glancing over my shoulder at Dean, who had stopped talking with the cheerleader, and was now standing there, watching us with hard eyes.

"So how old are you?" The officer suddenly asked, bringing my attention back to him.

"Um, pardon?"

His lips pulled back into an easy smile, and he shrugged his broad shoulders, looking slightly sheepish. "Well, it's just that you look so young to be in the FBI. Are you some kind of prodigy?"

"Oh, well thanks, but hardly. I'm twenty four, which is pretty old, actually." I hoped my laugh sounded even to him, because it sounded anything but to me.

"Twenty four is _old_?" The officer laughed, and I noticed him stepping closer, minimizing the already small space between us. He looked me square in the eyes and winked. "I must be ancient then! I'm twenty seven." I didn't exactly know how to respond, so I just smiled, feeling myself growing more comfortable being around him. He gave off a certain...safe, vibe. It could have been because he was a police officer, or it could have been something else. Whatever the reason, my guard dropped significently, and I leaned against the wall beside him, grinning up at his face.

"Hey, agent Benatar."

I turned at the sharp sound of my fake name, and saw Dean approaching us, his jaw set and eyes dark. He stepped between the officer and I, not looking at me, but rather challenging my conversation partner with his hard gaze.

"Er, agent Coop." I struggled to keep a calm composure as I gripped his arm, and tugged him to the side, moving him away from the officer. "Find anything?"

Despite the proximity between them, Dean continued staring darkly at the officer, who gave him a confused look in return, clearly misunderstanding, (or not understand at all) what was bringing on the sudden hatred. "Yes." Dean said, refusing to look at me. "Now let's go." the last two words came out so spiteful and forced that when he grabbed my wrist to lead me out of the house, I yanked away, glowering at him.

"Um," the officer looked between us, seeming unsure about the situation before settling his gaze on me. "I never did get your name."

I knew it would annoy Dean if I told him. So I tried. "Oh, it's-"

"None of your god-damn buisness." I felt Dean's hands on my back, pushing me away from the officer and towards the stairs of the basement. There was the sound of a muffled protest behind us as I stumbled up the stairs, and then we were outside. As soon as his hands were off me, I whirled on Dean, glaring at him firecly.

"What the _hell _is your problem?"

"What's my problem? We've got a job to do and you're over there chatting up some random police man!" Dean gave me a disgusted look and shook his head. "It's called being professional, Lily."

We began walking back to the vehicles, but I wasn't nearly done arguing. As he tensely kept up at my side, I thought about what he'd said, how he said it, and came to one conclusion. "Oh my God." I groaned, tipping my head up at the sky. "Is tha was this is all about? You being _jealous_?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Please. I am not jealous of some...some idiotic, newbie police officer."

"Oh, so what? Just because he doesn't know the truth about the supernatural, that makes him an idiot?"

"Yeah, it kind of does."

"Well you can screw off, Dean." I felt so angry, my hands curled into shaky fists at my sides. "You don't see me acting like a complete jerk when you go off with whatever...slut you can get your hands on." I realized, once I had finished, that my words had come out particularly angry and sharp, but I didn't bother apologizing, or trying to take them back.

He stopped suddenly, and held out his arm so it knocked into my chest, stopping me as well. "Don't you talk about things you don't know about!" Dean growled, staring right into my eyes. "I had to question the wtiness, Lily, you know that!"

"That doesn't mean you have to flirt with every single one like I'm not standing right there!" I exploded, pushing his arm away so I could continue to the vehicles. I heard him following behind me, mumbling angirly to himself, but he'd have to be completely idiotic not to realise that I had a point. Every case we had been on together, at one point or another, he flirted with a girl right in front of me. _Every god-damn case!_

"Hey guys." Ash watched us approach with a worried look. "Are you two okay?"

Dean and I spoke at the same time: "Stay out of it, Ash!"

Slowly, she backed away, raising her hands in front of her. "Um, okay then." She turned instead to look at Sam and Mira, who I hadn't even noticed following us out of the basement. "What did you guys find?"

"Another hex bag." Sam said, eyeing his brother worriedly.

Mira nodded. "Looks like another hit by our powerful witch."

Awkward silence ensued. As mad as I was at Dean, I didn't like this tension between us. But I wasn't going to be the first to apologize; I didn't _need _to! I'd only been making conversation with a police officer. Excuse me for trying to stay in character. It may have looked slightly suspicous if I'd ignored him and walked away.

"Well," Dean said suddenly, and I jumped at how rough his voice sounded. "I'm heading back to the hotel to...do some research."

He turned his back on me, and headed back to the Impala, and apologetic looking Sam on his tail. We watched them drive off, leaving us standing around our van without anyone speaking. Finally, Ash exhaled loudly, and leaned against the driver side door with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Well that was awkward."

I looked at her and Mira, shaking my head angirly. "God, can you believe him?"

Neither spoke.

"I'm...I'm just so tired of him running around with every woman he sees." I spoke quietly, my eyes on my feet. "Is that so wrong?"

"No." Mira said instantly, touching my shoulder. "It isn't. What's wrong is that he does it in the first place."

Ash came up on my other side. "I can beat him up for you, if you want."

"No, no, that's okay." Despite my sister's reassuring words, in the back of my mind, I was still hurting so much.

* * *

><p>Back at the hotel, a considerable amount of time was spent researching on our own. I sat away from the group with my laptop, dreading working with Sam and Dean, especially Dean. Facing him sounded like a nightmare, because I was positive that as soon as our eyes met, I would burst into tears. It was just too painful to see him looking at me, looking right through me with those accusing and betrayed eyes as I was the one who had wronged him. In a way, I felt guilty, though I knew the fight wasn't my fault. Not entirely, anyway. Even still, the thought of Dean, Dean being mad at me, made my stomach churn.<p>

In the middle of the afternoon, Sam suddenly sat up with his computer, and excitedly announced that he'd figured out what we were up against. "It's the raising of Samhain." Sam explained, reading off his laptop. "Basicially, it's a really powerful witch summoning a really powerful demon."

"Oh is that all?" Ash leaned back on the couch, and stretched out her legs. "So what, we gank 'em both."

Sam, though, shook his head, quickly reading over whatever he'd found. "Not that simple. The guy would raise all sorts of nasty things with him; ghosts, demons, zombies..."

I could practically see Ash's face light up, excited about what she was hearing. "Sounds like fun!"

"That's what I was thinking at first." Dean said darkly, looking at her with a serious expression. "But if we don't stop this thing, the whole town's going to be a slaughterhouse. Every innocent civillian will get dragged into this mess."

Ash's face fell slowly. "Oh, well...I didn't mean...never mind."

Once we found out what it was, Dean and Ash left to keep tabs on Mrs. Wallace, waiting outside her house. The rest of us remained at the hotel with our research, continuing to look up whatever we could on Samhain. The hours crept by slowly while we were split up, and I couldn't focus whatsoever. All I could think about was Dean this, and Dean that, and what Dean was thinking about at that very moment...was it me? I already missed his affection, instead recieving cold, standoffish actions from him. It felt like my heart had been ripped in half, and I wanted him back so badly, it was insane. But a part of me knew that staying with him while he was with other women would only hurt more. So I fought the urge to call him, and continued researching.

After a few hours on our own, Sam called Dean, putting it on speakerphone so we could all hear as he asked him how it was going.

"Freaking boring," Dean replied, and I flinched at his voice. "And Ash is eating all of my candy."

I heard Ash in the background, yelling, "It's not my fault you brought so damn much! If I get fat, I'm blaming you."

"Oh yeah, because..." slowly, Dean trailed off, and then suddenly, he cursed. "Son of a bitch!"

"What is it?" I asked, sitting up and forgetting all about our fight, as well as the chances of him chosing not to reply to me.

Ash spoke first, sounding mildly surprised. "Huh. Well, looks like we've found our connection."

"What?" Sam pressed. "What is it? What did you guys find?"

After a long pause, there was the sound of Dean sighing into the phone, and then he spoke. "REmember that cheerleader, the one who said she didn't know Wallace? Well...it looks like she's the family baby sitter."

* * *

><p>It was only five minutes before they arrived back in the hotel room. "Well, it looks like we've got our witch." Dean tossed his keys on the bedside table, and sat down beside me. I felt my cheeks colouring as he did so. It was probably force of habit for him, because a second later, he cleared his throat, and slid down to the end of the bed, avoiding my eyes.<p>

"Interesting look for a century old witch." Sam mused, obviously recalling how long and preppy the cheerleader had looked earlier that day.

Ash groaned. "Typical men. She's a blond cheerleader who goes to wild parties; of course she's evil."

"Well," Sam opened a new tab on his computer, and scanned the page. "I found out that she had a violent altercation with her teacher. So I guess we'd better to pay her teacher a litle visit, then."

Ash nodded, already on her feet. I gave her a sympathetic look.

"Er, Ash...maybe just for a couple more days, you should-"

"Goddamit!" She fell back onto the bed, looking furious. "I have to sit this one out again, really?"

"Yes."

"Ugh."

**A/N: Hey everybody. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but RainbowTurkeyofDoom and I have been really busy with school and such. Well, now that we're done, we've got the entire summer for updates. Already, we've got about four more chapters ready to post, so keep an eye on the updates, people! And thanks again for reading! Reviews are much appreciated!**

**-FinnHudsonxoxo**


	20. Twenty Lily

20. Lily

The high school was a large building, with long halls that bustled with activity as we walked through them. It had been a mutual agreement to dress normally, but that didn't stop the students from noticing we were out of place. People did double-takes when they saw us, and heads swivelled to watch the four grown adults walk down their hallow halls. Dean grinned, obviously enjoying the attention. I just kept my chin down and walked evenly, avoiding their curious gazes.

My own high school expirience was...well, you wouldn't call it the best years of my life. I'd had friends, sure, but between the actual work and being too shy to speak to any guys, it was more of an ordeal than something enjoyable. I guess that's how most teenagers feel in the end, anyway.

The art room was at the end of a particularly crowded hallway, where the teenagers were moving at either an incredibly slow speed, or were rushing to get to class. I was nearly knocked off my feet on several occasions by husky boys who laughed when they pushed me to the side, as if it were absolutely hilarious. On any other occasion, I knew I would have had Dean to back me up. But we still weren't talking to each other, so he ignored me and the rude students completely.

A bell rang out when we finally reached the art room, and a wave of teens piled through the door with only a few slow ones left lingering in the class. As we entered, I took a quick survey of our group, and wondered if maybe four FBI agents may be overdoing it a bit. Oh well. We were already there.

"You wanted to speak with me?" A man asked, coming up to us.

I noticed that Dean had a slight delayed reaction, staring up at one of the clay masks that were hanging from ceiling before shaking his head slightly and swallowing. It didn't go unnoticed by Sam, either, but neither of us called him on it.

"Mr. Harding." Sam held out his hand, and as the man took it, he grinned.

"Oh, call me Don. Even the students call me Don."

"Yeah we get it _Don_." Dean sounded slightly on edge.

Sam was quick to intervene, shooting his brother a curious look. "Uh, anyway, I'm Geddy, and that's agent Lee, over there is agent Benatar and that is agent Coop."

As Don shook each of our hands, Mira stepped forward, and tilted her head to the side slightly, shooting him her award winning smile. "We'd like to ask a few questions about Tracy Davies, if that's alright, and the violent altercation that took place?"

"Oh," Don's bright smile faded into a hard line on his face. "Tracy. Such a nice girl. You'd neevr expect that sort of behaviour from someone like her."

"What exactly happened?" Dean asked, edging closer with a raised eye brow.

"Well, one day after class, I told her to stay back so I could talk to her about some of her work." Don was staring at something distant, probably recalling that scene. "They were all drawings of herself committing these...violent killings, and she drew weird looking symbols. Anyway, when I confronted her, she just...attacked me."

"Was this one of the symbols?" Sam asked, pulling out the old coin from on of the hex bags.

Don squinted at it briefly. "Yeah, I'd say that was one of them."

"Where do you think we could find Tracy?" I was surprised when his intense gaze fell on me, and nearly stumbled over my sentence from the look of it.

"Well, probably at her apartment."

"Apartment?" Mira frowned. "Like, with her family?"

Don shook his head, and perched himself on the closest table, placing his hands casually on his knees. "No, no. She moved here alone about a year ago. As I understood it, as an emancipated teen. God only knows what her parents were like."

* * *

><p>"Trick or treat!"<p>

We'd decided to head back to the motel to do more research, as going to her alleged apartment after our meeting with Don had yeilded nothing, and we hadn't been out of our vehicles for two seconds before someone was approaching us. It was a chubby little boy, dressed up as an astronaut. He held out his bag to Dean, and I glanced around his tall frame at the sky. It wasn't even dark yet.

"This is a motel." Dean said flatly.

The kid blinked, clearly oblivious to the problem. "So?"

"So we don't have any candy."

Mira, who had been looming nearby and smiling adoringly at the young boy, suddenly piped up. "Oh I'm sure we can find some!"

"Well it's gone." Dean said. "We have Ash to thank for that."

I was surprised at the tone of voice he was using, because I knew how he was with kids, and he was usually pretty great. Was it our fight that was getting to him? Slowly, I sank down onto one of the beds, looking away quietly.

"I want candy." the kid whined relentlessly.

"Well you've had enough!" Dean waited until the kid had waddled away, and then turned around, rolling his eyes at the incredelous look he recieved from Mira. "What? It's true."

Upstairs, we gathered around the door to Sam and Dean's room, where we were met with an unusual sight inside. The opened door revealed Ash laying on one of the beds, kicking her feet irritably and seeming uncomfortable. It took only another glance to figure out why.

A man in a long brown trench coat was perched on the other bed, watching her impatient movements with a look of serene calm. That was the funny thing about this man. No matter how many different ways I looked at him, he seemed at ease. His angular face was pulled into a relaxed expression, and his eyes were set on Ash, though not harsh. They seemed almost wonderous. But who was this mysterious man, and his partner?

Over by the window, a very big black man was standing with his back to us, looking out at the street.

Beside me, I heard the sound of Sam raising his gun, but Ash, who'd sat up when the door opened, shook her head. "Don't bother, Sam. They're angels." she nodded her head to the big one standing by the window, who hadn't flinched once sicne we'd arrived. "That's Uriel. And that's...that's Castiel." When she flicked a finger to the man on the edge of the bed, I noticed her grudging tone that she'd used to introduce the other one had melted into a calmer one to introduce the second.

"Hello, Sam." The one in the trench coat, Casitel, spoke in a monotone, which perfectly matched his demeanor.

So...these were angels. It was suddenly much easier for me to understand Ash's attraction and captivation, which isn't to say I was terribly captivated myself. Once upon a time, angels were baby-faced children to me, who flew around with wings and halos. Of course, that sounds slightly shallow minded of me, considering the fact that I've been wronged before on my ideas of other creatures.

No longer did I blame Ash for her strange, denied attraction to angels. They looked had odd, almost appealing vibes to them, which contrasted strangely to their hard-set warrior demeanor. As we all stood there silently, I felt something in the room shift. It was tension getting thicker, like a spring coiling into itself. What was going on?

"Oh my God!" Sam seemed flustered, lowering his gun instantly. "Oh, uh...I didn't mean to...sorry! It's an honour. Really. I've heard a lot about you!" He shifted his gun into his other hand, and held out his free one to Casitel. He stared aqt it for a long time before taking it carefully.

"And I you." Casitel said, giving Sam such a deep stare that I was grateful I wasn't in his position; I didn't take eye-contact very well. "Sam Winchester," he continued, tilting his head to the side slightly. "The boy with the demon blood. Glad to hear you've...ceased your extracurricular activities."

Sam's eye brows pulled together, and his eyes narrowed in worry, and almost disappointment.

Mira and I exchanged uneasy looks, and I could tell we were thinking the same thing: Demon blood?

"Let's keep it that way." The big man, Uriel, crooned in a deep, throaty voice.

Dean just stared at him, looking annoyed. "Yeah, okay chuckles."

Castiel didn't glance at Uriel, choosing instead to keep his gaze focused pointedly on Sam. "The raising of Samhain. Have you stopped it?" when Sam said nothing, looking still awed at who stood before him, Cas turned his attention to Dean, who stood idly by. "Dean, have you located the witch?"

"Yes, we've located the witch."

"And is the witch dead?"

"No." Sam shook his head. "But-"

"We know who it is." Dean interjected with a confident expression, as if to silence Castiel's insenuous quesitoning.

For a moment, Cas remained standing on the spot, staring at them both. And then, he sighed. "Apparently, the witch knows who you are, too." Without explaining himself, he crossed the room to the bedside table, and picked up a hex bag. I inhaled sharply, and then noticed Ash grimmacing at the sight of it. "We found this inside the hotel walls." Castiel held it up for all of us to see, wearing a grim expression. "When we arrived, Ashley was tearing the room apart, clearly unable to breathe."

"We, of course, straightened the hotel room and healed Ashley's numerous lung fissures." Uriel turned around to look at us. "Had we not arrived, she would be dead."

"It's Ash." she grumbled from her spot on the bed, to which Uriel merely acted as though she hadn't spoken at all.

"We're running out of time." Castiel announced, looking at each of our faces. "We have to stop this summoning."

As he spoke, I studied the two angels, and the way Ash reacted around them. It was actually quite interesting to see. She was clearly more comfortable and warm towards Castiel, and even saying this was a stretch, since she was also sending him looks that were, well, somewhat guilty begrudgement. Towards Uriel, she was obviously guarded, because for one, she had her knife in the hand closest to him, and two, her expression towards him was that of mistrust. Something about this angel was making her suspicous, which in turn made me suspicious as well.

"We're closing in on the witch soon." Dean spoke gruffly, making sure that he was showing no signs of intimidation from the angels. "But what's it to _you_? I thought you were on a strict heaven-related case diet?"

Castiel didn't flinch. "The raising of Samhain is one of the 66 seals of the apocalypse."

The air automatically seemed to tighten in the room at the mention of the apocalypse. I inhaled sharply, and then looked over at Dean, who was shuffling his weight agressively. "Oh, so this is about your buddy Lucifer."

It was Uriel who spoke, not Cas. "Lucifer is no friend of ours."

I think it was the tone of voice he was using, that throaty sound, but for some reason, I instantly felt afraid for Dean. Uriel was a very threatening looking man, which I suppose was the point to having him around. He intimidated people. Well, he sure as hell was intimidating me. Despite our fight, I felt myself shuffling closer to Dean, sheilding myself behind his broad frame.

"The breaking of the seal must be stopped at all costs." Castiel said, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one who picked up the infliction in his tone darken as he spoke.

"Well, we already know who the witch is. If we work together, we can-" Sam started, and I have to commend him on his attempt at a hopeful tone. He was cut off by Uriel, who bore no expression rather than a mask of intimidation.

"Silence." He simply said.

Sam looked crestfallen at the angel's actions towards him.

Castiel eyed the man carefully, and spoke slow. "Uriel here is what you call a specialist." It almost looked as if he knew we weren't going to like what was coming next.

When no one spoke, I took it upon myself to ask the needed question. "A specialist in what?" I made sure to sound as reserved and careful as Castiel, but I can only guess that my voice wavered slightly. For the first time upon our entering, he turned his gaze to mine, and I finally, truly understood what Ash had meant when she said his eyes were stunning. They were, literally, stunning. I mean, my heart didn't beat any faster, and I didn't feel wooed in any way, but I did sort of feel naked, like he was examining my soul in one simple glance.

He didn't answer my question. Instead, he quietly announced, "You should all leave the city tonight."

"Oh yeah?" Dean was quick to step forward challengingly. "And why is that?"

Castiel didn't even hesitate to answer, sounding sure despite the news he brought forth. "Because, we're going to destroy it." Someone, Mira I guessed, inhaled sharply. I knew she was definitely king to vocally object, as the moral centre of our group, but it was Dean who spoke first.

"Wait, you're going to just annihilate the city and everyone in it? You can't do that!"

"we're out of time." Castiel wasn't looking at Dean, or any of us for that matter; his eyes remained on Uriel, who had come over to join him at his side, looking threatening compared to Castiel's stature.

"I think you'll find I can do that. This isn't the first city I've purified. " Uriel said, a hint of a smile on his face. I fel nauseous at the sight of it. These were angels? These were the people we told to pray to as children so they were protect us while we slept? These were no angels. These were...monsters.

"There's got to be over a thousand men, women, and children in this town!" Mira cried, and I noticed her voice broke on the last part.

Uriel gave her an even stare. "One thousand, two hundred and fourteen to be exact."

Ash, who up until that point had remained quiet on her bed, suddenly spoke. "Innocent people shouldn't have to die." She sounded so quiet, so pained, that I found myself staring at her, watching as she rubbed her temples tiredly. "It's not right."

"Exactly!" Dean turned to Uriel angirly. "We can get this thing, just give us a chance here! I... I will not let you do this."

With my arm touching his, I could feel how much Dean was shaking, how determiend he was to get this idea out of the angel's heads. But Castiel sighed, looking unmoved.

"Look at the big picture here. This is one small town, a few thousand people compared to six billion people. If Lucifer walks...everything will be destroyed."

I felt something, like a cold shiver run down my spine at his words. Lucifer walking was hell on earth.

"I'm done playing with these mud monkeys." Uriel said in a bored tone, pacing back to the window.

"But you can't do this!" Sam protested, staring down Castiel. "You're angels! You're supposed to show mercy!" Just like Mira, his voice cracked slightly, and I felt my heart tug slightly at the determination he was showing. Beside me, Mira was seeming to be feeling the same way, gazing up at Sam with a look of admiration.

"Who says what we're supposed to do?" Uriel asked, chuckling slightly as if laughing at Sam's incompetence.

Castiel looked down at the ground. "We...we have no choice."

I was still imagining hell on earth, what it would do to humanity when Dean suddenly stepped forward, glaring down Castiel. "Of course you have a choice. Come on! You mean...you mean you've never questioned a crap order? Huh? Are you both just a couple of hammers?"

"Look," Castiel interjected soflty, but with a determined tone. "Even if you can't understand it, have faith." he looked up at Dean. "The plan is just."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "I don't know why you are so full of yourselves, but it looks like your plan has changed. See, the man upstairs went to the trouble of bursting me out, so I figure I must be worth something. so if you're goign to blow this town sky high, then you're going to have to blow me up too 'cause I ain't leaving, not over my dead body. Which, I'm sure, would please Him."

I felt something just then, something I hadn't felt since our fight. I had to mentally slap myself, reminding me that I was still mad at him. But even still, it was such a heroic, defiant speech...it was becoming difficult for me not to view him as anything but an incredible human being.

Uriel just smiled, although his eyes darkened noticably. "I will drag you out of here myself."

"Yeah, but you'll have to kill me. Then we're back to the same problem." ignoring the angered look he recieved, Dean turned towards Cas, seeming pleading. "We can do this. We will find that witch, and we will stop the summoning."

"I will not take this!" Uriel started, moving toward Dean angirly.

Cas stopped him, however, by barking out, "Enough!"

Turning toward us, he looked Dean square in the eyes, and said, "I suggest you move quickly", before he and Uriel vanished, leaving behind the sounds of their clothing brushing against the air.

Alone in the hotel, none of us spoke. I remained rooted on the spot, staring at where the two angels had disappeared with hard eyes. I heard Ash sigh and collapse back down on the bed, mumbling about how she needed a drink, and Mira, speaking quietly to Sam as he unwrapped the contents of the hex bag again. I glanced at Dean out of the corner of my eye to find him looking at me as well. At the same time, we both looked away again, embarrassed at being caught. Dean cleared his throat, and moved to go stand beside Sam, who was still examining the contents.

"Are you going to figure out a why to find this witch, or are you just going to sit there fingering your bone?"

I frowned slightly, and turned to see Sam holding the baby bone, peering at it with a furrowed brow. He ignored his brother's comment, turning the tiny fragment around in his fingers slowly. "Do you know how much heat it would take to char a bone like this, Dean?"

His eye brows rose. "Uh, no."

"A lot." Sam frowned, and brought the bone even closer to his face. "I mean, more than a fire or some kitchen oven."

"Okay Betty Crocker, what does that mean?"

"It means we have to make a stop. I think I've figured something out."

"What is it, Sammy?" Dean asked, sounding impatient. "We're a bit pressed for time here."

"You need a special kind of oven to scorch bones to this degree." Mira spoke first, taking the bone from Sam's fingers into her own, and looking up at the rest of us. "One used for pottery... like in an art class."

* * *

><p>Rather than splitting up into our own vehicles, we all piled into the Impala, which was, admittedly, much faster than our van, and hurried back to the high school. Inside his art room, Dean lifted up a lid of one of the pottery ovens, and looked inside of it with a grimmace. "So, Tracy used a kiln to char the bone? What's the big deal?"<p>

Sam, who had rushed over to Don's desk, began rummaging through the contents on top, looking worried. "Dean, that hex bag turned up in our room not after we talked to Tracy..."

"After we talked to the teacher." Ash concluded with a sigh. "Oh great. So Mr. Call-me-Don isn't so friendly after all."

Mira, who'd been following Sam's actions, bent down beside the desk, and stopped. "Hey, guys. Check it out."

She lifted a large padlock, locking one of the drawers of Don's desk. I glanced at it briefly before straightening up, and grabbing a hammer I'd noticed sitting on the counter nearest us. Handing it off to Sam, he took it, and smashed open the lock, letting the hammer drop onto the floor as he yanked open the drawer. Inside, a small porcaline bowl held small bones of babies.

Mira gagged and turned away, sheilding her face in Sam's jacket. "Oh God..."

"So Tracy isn't the witch." I said, staring down at the bones with a hard gaze. "Don is."

"So, is he keeping her at his house, or her apartment?"

Dean sighed, rubbing at his eyes. "I don't know...it could be either. We don't have much time, and if I had to pick I would say his place. But," he ammended, looking up at us. "Maybe it's better if we split up and cover all ground. Sam and I will go to the teacher's house. You girls head to her apartment. You'll have to go on foot, but it's not that far. Call us if you find anything, got it?"

"You too." Ash said, nodding.

The walk to Tracy's apartment would have been long if we hadn't decided to jog. Even Ash, who was usually the first ot suggest taking our time, was sprinting, leading us down the empty, darken street. We hadn't even reached her apartment when my phone began to ring, and I stopped to answer it.

"Hel-"

"We screwed up, Lil!" Dean hurriedly explained, sounding panicked. "They were both witches! Tracy's dead and...damn it! Samhain rose! We'll pick you up, we're on our way to the cemetary to stop him." He spoke so quickly it was almost hard to follow him.

"Alright, we're about a block from the cemetary." I looked over my shoulder at Mira and Ash, who'd stopped running to give me urgent expressions. They wanted to know what was going. I wanted to chew Dean out for breaking the seal that we were specifically told _not _to, but at the same time, I just really wanted things to be... simpler. I rubbed my eyes as he hung up.

"Shit." Ash cussed after I explained our phone call. "This is...this is just great! If things keep going like this, apocalypse here we come."

I heard the sound of the Impala in the distance, and saw it rounded the corner. The tires squealed as it stopped in front of us, and Sam threw open his door, pulling his seat forward so we could quickly hop into the back.

"This demon is pretty powerful." He explained, waiting until we were all in to closed his door again. "Might take more than the usual weapons to stop him."

My eyes narrowed instantly at his statement. What was he suggesting?

Dean knew, because he immediately responded, "No, Sam. Ruby's knife is enough. You are not using your psychic...whatever." he waved his hand dismissively in the air as he stepped on the gas, and set the Impala hurling down the road.

Ash raised her eye brows. "Whoa, whoa kids, hold the phone. What is going on here? Is this what the angels were warning you against earlier? Come on! Fill us in here."

"Sam has this psychic ability, which allows him to exercise demons without a spell, or harm the host." Dean spat out the sentence with much venom in his voice, which generally meant he wasn't fond, nor approved of the idea of Sam's...abilities.

"But...but that's a great thing, isn't it?" Mira asked hesitantly.

Sam nodded, seeming grateful for someone on his side.

Dean however, shook his head. "No, it isn't. For one, Ruby taught him how to do it. The angels told him not to, and Sammy, you say it yourself that it's like playing with fire."

"That demon bitch?" Ash asked, putting her head between the two front seats. "I'm with Dean on this one."

Sam turned to look at her, and I noticed that he seemed testy. "Of course you are! Dean's with the angels on this one."

"God, would everyone give it up? I am no more partial to angels than you! Now stop bringing it up! Got it?"

Everyone fell silent. Obviously, Ash was determined to convince us otherwise...But all it seemed to me was that she was trying to cover something up.

"Please Sammy." Dean said finally, holding up Ruby's knife.

He huffed, and reluctantly took it.

* * *

><p>At the mausoleum in the cemetary, we were met with an interesting sight. Descending down the cement steps, we stopped to stare at the group of screaming teenagers, locked inside with the bodies. They were all gathered at the doors, hands curled around the steel bars containing them and shaking it wildly, screaming bloody murder. Ash was the first to notice the costumes, and the drinks inside, and she gave an annoyed shake of her head.<p>

"Partying in a mausoleum. What a bunch of idiots."

I ignored her, chosing instead to focus on the dead bodies that were breaking through their cement graves in the walls, determined to grab the trapped teens. "We have to do something!" I cried, looking down at the lock that kept the doors closed.

"Dean, you stay here and help these kids." Sam began backing away, moving up the stairs. "I'll catch up with the Samhain!"

Turning around, Dean barked, "I won't let you go by yourself!"

"He won't be by himself!" Mira hurried to catch up with the retreating Sam, tossing Ash and I reassuring glances as he departed.

Dean grunted, and gripped the bars, shaking them just as hard as the teens were, and finding it just as useless. "Alright everybody, stand back!" He reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out his handgun. When he shot the lock off, a stampede of teens scrambled out of the mausoleum, nearly trampling us in the process. Once they were all gone, we moved inside, and stopped, looking at what we were up against.

Ash spoke first, grabbing for her knfioe. "Zombies. Bring it."

And the bloodshed began.

They crawled out of their graves slowly, giving Dean enough time to reach into his bag, and grab each of us a shot gun. When he handed one to me, our eyes met, and as much as I wanted to melt right there, I knew we had a job to do. So swallowing the tight lump in my throat, I took the gun, and turned around, shooting a zombie that had been slowly making it's way towards me.

"Oh you did not just put your grimmy little hands on my converses!" I heard Ash say, before stabbing a zombie right in the middle of his chest. "These are my favourite shoes, goddammit!"

At one point, Dean and I ended up back to back as we fought, turning in circles as to make sure we shot everything in radius to us. I didn't really feel much like talking at that point, since I had three zombies approaching me and one clinging to my pantleg. But evidently, Dean did.

"Hey, Lily?"

I kicked the zombie in the face who'd been holding me, and then shot him. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about the flirting...and stuff." He brought his gun down, shooting a zombie that had just begun to crawl out of it's gave close to the floor.

I reloaded my gun quickly, shooting a few rounds before responding. "It's just...We... I kind of thought-"

"I know. I'm just sort of new at this whole commitment thing."

"Don't worry about it, Dean." I glanced around me, and found that the zombies had stopped approaching on my side. "Just... lay low on the womanizing from now on, okay?" Taking a step away from his back, I moved in front of him, and shoot him a smile, hearing Ash groaning behind me.

"How about you both leave the relationship development until after the fight!"

She grunted suddenly, and when I looked, I saw that a ghost had appeared, and had her pinned against the wall. As she wriggled away from it, Dean noticed as well, and narrowed his eyes. "A zombie ghost orgy, really? That's it, we're torching this place."

He grabbed for his lighter, and touched his pockets briefly before looking to Ash. "You got some salt?"

"Yeah." She rummaged in her own pockets before tossing him a packet, the sort I knew she always took extra of when we visited restaurants.

Dean quickly sprinkled salt around him before lighting his Zippo lighter, and throwing it down, setting the bodies aflame. The air reeked with the stench of burning flesh, and I felt his hand on my arm, pulling me out of the room and in the general direction that Mira and Sam had fled to.

There was Sam, standing in the middle of a marble room with his hand outstretched towards the Samhain, who was rooted on the spot with wide eyes. Mira was sitting against the wall to the left of them, looking pretty banged up. It was incredbile to watch, yet horrifying at the same time. Sam was in obvious pain, his face scrunched up in concentration, and his nose dripping blood. The Samhain couldn't move. He looked helpless as Sam grunted, and then with a great roar, he was exercized, and more than that, obliterated.

As he fought to regain a normal breathing pattern, Sam turned around, and avoided our gazes, walking over to help Mira to her feet. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly, and she nodded before wiping the blood from under his nose carefully with her sleeve.

Dean turned toward me, and away from Sam, clearing his throat awkwardly. For a moment, we just stared at each other, me up at him, him down at me. And then, I slowly folded myself into his arms, feeling his hands going to my hair, smoothing it down gently. It just felt so right, so...perfect.

"That's cool guys. Real cool." I heard Ash say, and when I unwrapped my arms from Dean's waist, I turned to see her storming up the stairs. At first I was confused, until I noticed Mira in Sam's arms.

Whoops.

"Wait up Ash!" I called, hurrying after her.

* * *

><p>I was by myself the next morning, packing up my things in the hotel room. Dean had gone off to buy breakfast, and Sam was also packing his things. Mira had retreated to a nearby store to stock up on supplies we were running low on, and Ash had gone out for a drink...at 10am. I guess considering the previous day's events, I couldn't really blame her.<p>

I was just finishing packing my clothes when I heard the sound of clothing rubbing together behind me.

Turning around, I saw Castiel standing in the middle of the room.

I fumbled with the zipper on my suit case, feeling the heat on my face. He was staring at me again, and I really did not like it. "Er, hey, Castiel." Pushing aside my suit case, I slowly sat down on the edge of my bed, trying my best to keep calm. "What's...uh, why are you here?" It came out more blunt than I had originally intended.

"Lillian." He greeted me with a curt nod. "I trust you are well." As he spoke, he let his eyes wander the room thoughtfully. "I've come to give you, Miranda and Ashley a warning."

I stood up abruptly. "A warning? About what?"

"Dean was pulled out of hell for a reason, Lillian." Castiel let his gaze fall on me, and I inhaled at the intensity of them. "He is going to be very important, to the earth. He and Sam and goign to become very involved with preventing the apocalypse. If you continue to fight with them, you too will become involved. It may be dangerous." he lowered his voice, as if worried someone might hear him. "Very dangerous."

"Huh." I stood there for a second, collecting my thoughts, before shrugging. "Well, that's okay then. If Sam and Dean need our help. we'll be there to help them. I'm not leaving his..._their_ sides."

Castiel tilted his head slightly, a habit I'd noticed but not yet grown used to. It meant he didn't quite understand, or maybe it meant he was contemplating something. "You care a great deal about Dean, don't you?"

I flushed a dark shade of red, and didn't reply, looking away shyly as my head nodded once, twice.

Silence ensued. Curiously, I returned my attention to Castiel to find him staring at the pile of Ash's clothes, gathered in a heap on the floor beside our bed. Suddenly, he looked at me. "Where is Ashley?" It surprised me to hear him ask, and I didn't respond right away, staring at him with a confused gaze. When he remained motionless, waiting for me to answer, I blinked.

"At a bar down the road, I think. Why do-"

Before I could finish, he was gone.

"Oh...bye, then." I returned to my packing with raised eye brows. That was odd...

About a minute later, Castiel was back, and supporting a very drunk looking Ash's weight. She swayed back and forth on the spot, blinking at the sudden change of scenery, no doubt. As she fell forwards slightly, Castiel tightened his grip on her arm and eased her into an upright position, so she was sitting against the mattress of the closest bed, suddenly asleep.

Castiel stared at her for a moment, his eyes never wavering from her face. "Why does she drink so much?"

"Why does the sun rise? Why do birds fly?" I sighed, and shrugged my shoulders, watching Ash as well. "I don't know. Sometimes, it seems like she drinks when she's tired, but recently, I think she just drinks to get her mind off hunting." I figured this was a good enough answer, since it seemed to be true. She'd especially started drinking heavily when we got involved with the Winchester's, but I didn't feel it nessisary to tell him that.

"She needs to rest." Castiel murmured quietly.

"Well, yeah. She's sleeping right now, but she'll be fine when she wakes-"

"No." he turned around to look at me, and I startled slightly at how serious and challenging he sounded. "She needs rest from the apocalypse."

Now I was just confused. "What in the world are you talking about?"

Castiel sighed, and looked back at Ash. "She must be terribly stressed with the apocalypse, and the seals, and all of this weight placed on her shoulders. It's too much for a person to bear. All of you need rest," he added. "You, Miranda, Sam and Dean. You've worked hard and deserve a break. Take it. Your bodies may thank you."

I thought about all the years I'd been hunting, and realized that never once had I bothered to 'take a break'. Why should the apocalypse-deal be any different? "I don't think we need a break." I told Casitel gently, hoping I wasn't going to have to argue with an angel. He looked at me over his shoulder, giving me that eery, patient stare of his.

"At least consider it."

Just so he'd stop pressing the subject, I nodded. "Sure."

I can't be sure if it was because I'm a horrible liar, or because Castiel just plain didn't trust my word. Whatever the reason, he narrowed hsi eyes at me, and then walked over to where Ash sat, still upright, and still sleeping. I blinked, watching as he bent down, and brushed aside some of her air to whisper so quietly in her ear, there wasn't a chance in hell that I'd hear. I was about to ask what he'd said when Casitle suddenly straightened up, and still looking down as Ash, disappeared.

As soon as he was gone, Ash's eyes opened.

"Oh wow." I frowned at her. "You're up."

Slowly, she stood, and stretched her limbs, looking much more...sober, than when she had arrived with Cas just moments before. She ventured over to the window, and pulled back the curtains, staring outside for a moment before turning around to look at me.

"Hey Lily...how would you feel about taking a break?"


	21. Twenty One Ash

21. Ash

August 16th 1989

"Daddy." I watched him enter my room, my eyes wide and small hands gripping the bedsheets blanketed over top of me. "I'm scared." he laughd as i burried my face in the depths of my covers, and I felt him put a hand on my shoulder.

"Ash, don't be worried." he paused, and my bed groaned as he lowered himself onto it, sitting just beside my trembling body. "Have I ever told you about your guardian angel?"

I was out from the blankets at once, shaking my head.

"Well," he balanced one arm on my mattress and leaned towards me, grinning. "your guardian angle is a protector who watches over you, keeping you safe from harm. He takes care of you. Nothing can hurt you with him watching over."

"Nothing?" I repeated, my forehead puckering as my young brain contemplated his tale.

"Nothing."

After a moment's pondering, I shook my head and jumped up, bracing one hand on the wall beside my bed and swinging the other about, as if i were holding a sword. "Daddy, that's alright. I don't need to be rescued, see?" I jabbed the sword in the air and grunted, stabbing an invisible intruder.

He chuckled, gently lowering me back underneath my sheets. "I see. You can take care of yourself."

I smiled contently, and felt my eyes growing increasingly heavy as he tucked me in. Before kissing me on the crown on my hair, he pulled back, and looked at me in the eyes. "You may not need to be rescued, but you never should feel alone, either. Good-night, Ashley."

"Night daddy." I watched him start for my door, and quickly added, "Don't let the monsters bite!"

He turned and winked."You too, Ashley."

* * *

><p>It was a gorgeous autumn's day (warm, stiff breeze coming in from the West, birds chirping, all that jazz) when I decided it was time to take a break. I knew we were all tired from the freaky, apocalypse demon crap, and so it would be nice to hunt some normal spirits for once. Not surprisingly, no one had any complaints.<p>

Our first "normal" case involved going to some famously haunted hotel, but Dean and Sam nad neglected telling us that it wasn't just _any _hotel -it was a five star hotel. "Jeez." I peered out the window of the van as we pulled up to it, laughing quietly. "I feel like a ghostbuster." When I began humming the theme song, Lily picked up a CD from the floor over the van and popped it in the player. AC/DC drowned me out.

"I thought you didn't like hard rock." I muttered sourly, crossing my arms over my chest.

Lily tossed me a shrug. "I'm getting used to it. It's good, on occasion."

Parking was a nightmare. I wouldn't have exactly expected a place with such a reputation for being famous would have so many cars, but I've been proven wrong before. Eventually, we followed Sam and Dean around the side of the building to the Handicap parking, and got out.

"Isn't this illegal?" Lily asked nervously, as we met up with Sam and Dean at the doors.

Dean just laughed. "Feels good, huh?"

"No, it feels illegal."

I moved past them to touch a hand on the dark red brick of the hotel, staring up at it's tall, old-fashioned structure. "So this is the famous 'Haunted Hotel', huh?" a cluster of old people with cameras around their necks and eager grins pushed past me, and I shot them dirty looks. "They seem to think they're exempt from seeing my right-hook..." I trailed off as one woman looked back at me, and then I took a threatening step forward, watching her scurry away.

"You know," Mira was coming up in the rear, sheilding her eyes from the harsh sun and frowning. "With the recent addition of malicious activity, I'd expect it to be a bit more...deserted."

Dean shrugged. "Of course it's packed. Dangerous ghosts are a huge tourist attraction."

I felt my brow furrowing anxiously, my fingers drumming against my jean pant leg. Having more people around would make this harder. Fantastic. They liked ghosts now, when they were just snapping pictures of air and getting teeshirts, but wait until there's real danger. All of those tourists in there are going to run for the hills. Or, they might not. Maybe seeing some action is what they came for. So they'll stick around and pay the consequences. Great.

Inside, a lanky teenage boy was slouched over on a stool behind the desk, snapping bubble gum and texting. I was almost instantly annoyed. Today's youth was supposed to change the world? The future looks bright...

"Excuse me," Sam said, coming up in front of the teen to motion at the rest of us. "We're interviewers from the local paranormal paper, and we were wondering if we could interview someone who's been witness to the recent activity here?"

The boy texting didn't answer until his fingers ceased flying across his phone, adn then slowly, he dragged his eyes up to Sam's. "What?"

"Did..." Sam frowned and gave Mira a confused look before turning back to the kid. "Did you not hear me?"

"Something about ghosts, I'm guessing." he was already back on his phone, and wouldn't look up as he spoke. "If you want to talk to the chick who saw the guy die, go on up and bug her."

Sam raised his eye brows, waiting for more. "Well, could I have her room number?"

This time, the teen actually sighed dramatically as if we were wasting _his _time, and slammed his phone down, turning on his stool to start typing on a computer to the left of him. After a moment, he printed out a piece of paper, and handed it off to Sam.

"That all?"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks."

"Whatever."

As we started walking down the hall, Sam looked down at the paper in his hands, trying to read the tiny font. Dean peered over his shoulder. "Room 618, floor 6. Let's go see what's going on here." He nudged his brother and veered left to a small alcove in the hall containing two elevators.

I stopped dead in my tracks, feeling like my feet had grown roots into the floor.

Mira and Lily both looked back at me, and exchanged confused looks.

"What, are you just going to stand there?" Dean rolled his eyes impatiently. "Come on, Ash."

I hesitated, my eyes sweeping the length of the hall worriedly. "Uh, are there stairs?" When I found nothing, my heart sank deep into my chest, and I swallowed tightly, feeling a cold sweat beginning in the small of my back. Everyone was looking at me skepticially, as if I were playing some sort of joke. Sam actually laughed.

"So, what? Are elevator's your kryptonite?"

I looked away, glaring darkly at the floor of the hall. "Every hotel has stairs..."

A passing bellhop stpped, having heard me. "No miss, I'm sorry but there aren't. There was a fire in the staircase and they're currently unsafe for use. The elevators, though, are in perfect working order." He gave me a bright smile, and continued on his way, unaware of my heated glower on his back.

"So," Lily said slowly, weighing my gaze with narrowed eyes. "We take the elevator...okay?"

"Okay."

I tok a deep breath as Dean, Sam, Mira and Lily filed into the elevator when the doors opened, all crammed in the small space. Oh God. I stepped inside, and looked around anxiously as the doors began closing, and the lights brightened. I felt sick to my stomach.

As Dean reached to press the sixth floor button, I pushed him roughly to the side, and pounded my fist against the button to open the doors again. 'Sorry! Tell me what you find!" Without looking at any of them, I rushed out.

I felt so much better once I was away from the elevator, and decided not to bother waiting for them in the lobby with the idiot kid behind the desk. So I continued past him, ignoring the confused look I recieved due to my short visit, and headed outside to the van.

If Dean made fun of me, I decided as I lay down in the back of the van, I'd just punch him or something. As I lay there, I slid my aviators from the top of my head down over my eyes, blocking out the sun, and the world around me began to fade.

* * *

><p>March 24th 1993<p>

Mrs. Ronne's office smelled like pencil sharpenings and leather, which I suppose was from the giant leather chair she had parked behind her desk. Was it customary that principals of elementary schools got big chairs to make themselves feel powerful or was that just my idiot principal?

"Ashley Elsberry!"

I turned quickly, having spent a good twenty minutes admiring the white walls, large oak desk and the pictures of family on her office walls. The door opened, and Mrs. Ronne came flying in like a madwoman, letting her door swing shut behind her again and click as it locked into place. I swallowed, but straightened up and pushed back my shoulders, giving her an even look as she walked around to the other side of her desk, sitting down in the dumb chair. I took this as my invitation to sit as well and did so, just as she began lecturing.

"This is the thrid time this month, young lady."

"Is it?" I frowned to myself, and began counting on my fingers. I thought it was more then that.

"Yes!" Mrs. Ronne didn't look as confused as I did. She looked furious. "And it keeps getting worse and worse! All Jen did to you was ask you about your shirt, and try to include you in their game. You decided to repay their kindness by grabbing her hair and throwing her into the fence?"

I stopped counting to glare at her angirly. "Include me? They came over to make fun of me."

Mrs. Ronne shook her head, and I knew she was just like the others. You know the kind. They're the people who think you're weird, or in my case, also loud, and stubborn, and emotional. She sits alone, they say, talking to things that aren't there and running around imagining a world that's not real. If you get too close, she'll bite. It's not like I care what people think. It's when they start physically bugging me that I retaliate.

Mrs. Ronne narrowed her eyes at my response, and then reached for her phone, calling my parents.

After she hung up, she crossed her arms over top her desk, challenging my glare. "You're in big trouble, missy. Five day suspension, trouble."

"Five days?" I sat up angirly. "I thought it was three!"

"Jen broke her nose."

I almost felt the need to smile. "Oh." I hit her that hard into the fence?

Mom and dad came into the office a few minutes later, each looking equally ashamed and angry. "Ash." Dad took my wrist roughly, and pulled me to my feet. "I am severely disappointed in you." I stared up at him as I was practically dragged out of Mrs. Ronne's office, and out of the school.

"But dad!" I protested when we got to the parking lot. "You're the one who said I should fight back!"

I heard my mom let out a disapproving, "Richard!"

Dad dug for his car keys of of his pocket, shooting me a dark look. "I told you to fight back if you were physically harmed, not if someone threw some words at you." He retrieved his keys, and unlocked the car, parked right beside the doors of the school. "You seem to think violence is the answer, and you keep getting into fights at school. This is not what I want for you, Ash."

I looked at my shoes in emberassment as i clambered into the back of the car, hearing my dad slam my door behind me. Once he and my mom were in as well, as she turned around in her seat nad gave me a pitiful look. "Why can't you be normal like Janice? She tries so hard, and has so many friends."

I gritted my teeth together, stopping the retort that climbed up my throat.

"Honstly!" She continued. "I'm thinking of sending you to reform school. This is not the way a little lady should be acting."

"I don't want to be a little lady!"

Mom sent me a look, _the _look, and I began sulking, glowering out my window as the city passed by.

"Ashley...you can't do this." my dad said suddenly.

I felt tears welling in my eyes. This wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.

* * *

><p>I woke up when I heard people talking outside the van about an hour later. Slowly, I rose, my back stiff and pinching painfully as I lifted my arms high above my head. "Did you take long enough?" I muttered, opening up the side door and swinging my legs out.<p>

"Well," Mira looked at me, and handed off the notebook they'd written all they had learned about. "We needed to find out everything that was going on."

I began skimming through the book, reading phrases about the murder of the wealthy hotel owner and the recent activity starting up on the expansion construction. As well, about how they kept his skeleton on display in the penthouse suite.

"Jesus." I muttered, raising my eye brows.

Beside me, Dean leaned against the van door. "So, what's your deal with elevators?"

"Small places make my hair friz up."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Really? That's your excuse? I was expecting something more creative. I'm disappointed."

Lily stepped between us when I snapped the notebook shut, ready to retort. "Anyway, we're meeting back here tonight. It seems the spirit gets restless every night at midnight."

"Fine." I handed the book back to Mira.

There was an awkward silence, and I knew everyone was looking at me.

"Hey, are you going to be okay tonight?" Sam asked, giving me a worried stare. "'Cause you can sit this one out with you want to-"

He stopped short when I glared at him.

"Yeah," he grinned, looking away. "I figured."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

* * *

><p>That night, the alarm in our hotel room went off at ten-thirty. I roused from bed, my eye lids seeming to be sticking to my eyes. No way it was that time already. "Come on, Ash." Lily gave me a light pat on the back, to which I grunted tiredly in response. "Up and at 'em."<p>

"Let me sleep."

"Hey, you had the option of staying. You lost your chance trying to look tough. Now get up."

Eventually, I managed to get out of bed, and dressed slowly as Lily and Mira rushed around the hotel room, packing up our things. Next door, I could hear Sam and Dean moving as well. We met outside in the parking lot, the flickering neon hotel sign being the only source of light.

"Ready?" Sam asked, as he closed the trunk of the Impala and looked between our faces.

Lily and Mira both nodded. I just yawned.

"Okay." he grinned. "Let's go."

I had my knife this time, tucked away in my belt loop with my cell phone too. As long as I had those things, I told myself quietly as we drove to the hotel, I'd be fine. I was ready to do this... Sort of. There was still the whole "elevator" aspect that I wasn't quite sure how to deal with just yet.

The hotel was even creepier at nighttime, when all the people were gone and the lights were out. It seemed bigger inside, too, without tourists crowding every inch of the place. I was fine walking down the hall until we reached that damn alcove with the elevators. I backed.

"Come on, Ash." Mira saw me do this, and put her hand on my back. "We need you up there."

They didn't _really_ need me... There was four of them. One less wouldn't hurt, would it? I quickly weighed my options; either I went back out to the van and looked like the biggest wimp in the entire world, thus having to endure relentless comments by one Dean Winchester... Or, I swallowed my pride and got in the damn elevator.

"Fine." I muttered, moving past them to get inside, pushing my back up agaisnt the far end of the tiny space. "But no one move, or jump or...do anything to make this thing go down, got it?"

Dean smirked as he got in. "Whatever you say."

Once everyone was inside, the doors closed, and we went up.

Mira, who stood to the left of me, gave my hand a light brush. "Hey." she whispered, and I refused to look at her, keeping my eyes on the red numbers above the door, counting the floors. Was the pace getting slower or was that just me? "How are you doing?"

Absently, I shrugged. My jaw was clenched so tightly that I couldn't speak.

On the other side of me, Dean was staring, obviously enjoying the discomfort I was in. I wanted to say something to him, or at the very least, shoot him a dirty look. But I couldn't move. I was literally frozen where I was until a beep emitted from the control pannel on the wall, and then the doors opened.

I was the first one out, pushing my way through the doors.

The others followed, Dean picking up pace to move ahead of me. Did he really _always _have to be the freaking leader? I ignored him, and stared looking around the space, eyes narrowed in the dark.

"There they are." Dean said suddenly. "Creepy son-of-a-bitch."

I looked to where he was pointing, and saw a glass case just to the left of the elevator doors. Huh. That was easy... I felt something inside of my stomach flip-flop uneasily. That was _too _easy. "I don't know about this." I said, walking towards the case with slow movements, Sam, Lily and Mira following behind. "We should-"

"Hey," Sam said, ignoring me to peer at the glass. "Maybe this will be an easy case after all."

Someone had to say it, I guess.

Once the words left his mouth, Lily inhaled sharply, and whispered loud enough for the five of us to hear, "There... Guys, he's over there." She shook the sleeve of my jacket until I turned my head in the direction she was looking, and saw him.

There, at the very end of the hallway, was the old owner. His eyes... they were lit with fire, like he had his own personal inferno occuring behind his pupils. And his face! It was so bloody, and contorted with anger. We barely had enough time to react before he took off into a sprint, sweeping past Lily and knocking her lighter out of her hand in the process.

"No!" Lily hurried to run after the skidding object, avoiding the owner as she did so.

Dean was quick to smash open the glass case with the iron crowbar he'd been carrying in his hands, and brought his arm up to his face to sheild his eyes from the sharp pieces that flew about. I did the same, feeling small bits landing in my hair, and in my clothes. When I lifted my arm away again, Sam was swinging his own iron bar at the spirit who'd been approaching him with impecable speed, causing the spirit to dissolve.

I backed up against Mira, and we rotated together slowly, our eyes scanning every corner of the hall for him.

When he appeared again, he was beside Lily, and snatched the recently retrieved lighter to toss it into one of the nearby floor vents. The clatter noise it made was long, and hallow, telling us that the vent was a deep one. It took a while until there was a muted "_clink_!" and the lighter hit the bottom. I was sure Lily would have been hit by the spirit while she was distracted, staring down the vent helplessly, if Mira hadn't pushed away from me and shot at it with rock salt.

Seeing this as her chance, Lily dropped onto her knees and pulled the vent from the floor, tossing it aside as she shoved her hand deep down inside. She grimmaced. "I can't quite reach it!"

"Here! Take mine!" Dean moved to grab his lighter from his jacket, but stopped, and looked down anxiously, fumbling around in his pockets. After a moment's search, he looked up again, eyes wide. "Damn it! I think it fell out in the car!"

The manager appeared beside him, sparks flying as he lunged towards Dean.

In a desperate move, he threw his car keys into the air before retrieving his crowbar from the floor, and taking a swing at the manager. I had the misfortune of catching them. My mind began to race. The stairs were out, so the only way of getting down to the van to grab the lighter was...

Oh God...the elevator.

I moaned loudly and ran back to it, my breath hitching as the doors closed, sealing me alone inside. If going up at 11:30 was nerve racking, it was nothing compared to now. All I could do to keep myself from screaming and running out was muttering dark curse words, and jabbing my thumb into the "down" buton. slowly, the elevator began it's descent...

When I reached the bottom, I pushed on the doors until they eventually opened, and then raced through the lobbey and out to the parkign lot. The Impala was parked right by the entrance, and when I got there, I fumbled with Dean's keys to unlock the doors. It seemed to take forever to get them open, since I dropped them twice and kept using the wrong ones, but I finally managed to get the driver's side open. It took even longer to find the lighter. I pushed myself onto the floor beneath the wheel, my hands gropping in the darkness. I felt the cool metal of Dean's lighter, and snatched it up, running back inside. By that time, I was breathing heavily, fearing I might be too late.

This time, when I got into the elevator, I wasn't so much scared as I was anxious, tapping my foot and drumming my trembling fingers against my pantleg, staring at the floor count above the doors. The elevator seemed to be moving slower than before, but I didn't think much of it, believing it to be my own, dumb mind. But then, just as the red numbers told me we'd hit the ninteenth floor, sparks flew from the lights abvoe my head, and they flickered before going out completely as the elevator came to a sickening lurch.

"Lily!" I cried, pounding my fists against the doors. "Mira!" no answer.

I looked around the tiny space and backed into the wall, my air seeming to be deplating. I tried claming myself, but it was like trying to stop my body from trembling- impossible. For a moment, I remained standing, eyes wide and chest heaving. But then, I grew angry, and rushed forward, trying desperately to pry the doors open. I needed out. I needed out _now. _They wouldn't budge though.

"Let me out! Please someone, get me out!"

My screams faded as my throat closed, the words catching. I couldn't think clearly. All I felt was massive panic like a knot slowly getting tighter and tigher around my waist, constricting my lungs. I started to slide down the wall, gasping for breath.

"Mira...Lily...Dean...Sam..." I trailed off, curling up into a ball in the corner. It was happening. I could see it in front of my house, playing like a sick, old moive.

There he was. The man, standing in front of me, seven year old me, in that old elevator. He carried a brief case, wore a dark suit and an even darker look, like it had been a bad day for him. I tried to smile as he came in, but he ignored me and pressed the button of the floor he needed. And then the lights flickered. The elevator stopped. The man, this stuck up man with his nose high in the air, began to panic.

Everyone has a weakness. His was elevators.

He was scared, much worse than I was. Even worse than me now. An hour passed, just the two of us stuck in an elevator. Then two hours. By the third, he reached into his brief case and brought out a plastic bag; an evidence bag. Inside, I could see something. It was a gun, and it was loaded.

By the fourth hour, the man was nothing more than decaying flesh in front of me.

Sitting alone in the elevator now, in that creepy hotel, I could see him again, dead against the wall with a hole in the middle of his forehad and the blood, pooling around me like a puddle I didn't dare try and touch. I could smell the burnt flesh, and feel the suffocation of the elevator, slowly starting to swallow me whole.

And then my cell phone rang.

"H-He...He..." I couldn't even speak, pressing it against the side of my face.

The person on the other line immediately sounded worried. "Ash? Ash are you okay?"

I tried to speak, to form a coherant sentance. Couldn't. Tried again. "E-elevator."

On the other end, Lily (at least, I think it was Lily) curesed, and then she spoke away from the phone to the others. I couldn't hear what she was saying, not that I was paying any attention anyway. and then, she spoke to me again.

"Just hold on, Ash. We took care of the spirit already. But you just hold on, okay? We'll send you help."

My hand went limp. Help? Who was there to help me? The hotel was deserted.

My breathing reached hyperventilation stage. I wasn't crying...no, I was beyong that. I was in a state of pure panic. The phone began to slide out of my hand, barely against my face anymore. On the other end, Lily grew even more anxious.

"I...Oh God, Dean she's hyperventilating! We've got to...would that work? Try?... Okay." She spoke to me again, having turned away to talk to him. "Ash, Can you hear me?

I didn't answer. She continued.

"You need to Castiel, okay? It's a long shot up he might be able to hear you. It's the only chance, so you might as well give it a try-"

I closed the phone numbly, cutting her off.

It took only a moment's consideration, weighing my pride against my need for an exit. And in the end, my need overpowered my pride. I didn't care hwo mcuh of a "damsal in distress" it made me look.

"Castiel?" I whispered, quietly at first, my voice cracking. And then louder, "Castiel!"

It was as if I'd skipped time. He was suddenly crouched in front of me, hands awkwardly on my upperarms as he shook me slightly.

"Ashley." He spoke sharply.

My eyes focused on his. They were blue...so blue. They seemed to bore into mine, and for the first time since stepping into the elevator, I felt peace. A wave of safety and serenity crashed over top of me, and as he placed a hand on my forehead, I closed my eyes. And then, I was out of there.

I stumbled when we landed outside of the hotel, tipping into Cas's chest like a child. At that moment, I didn't care how weak I looked, or how stupid. I was just relieved to be out of the damn elevator, and all of that fear was gone. Gone, gone...gone.

As I clung to him, trying to compose myself while sobbing and regaining a normal breathing pattern, Casitel stayed very still. I'm sure it was because he didn't know what to do, and I quickly straightened up, sniffling into the sleeve of my sweater.

"Thanks." I whispered.

He nodded wordlessly, which I appreciated, in someway.

I looked back at the hotel, thinking quietly. In the morning, I would be angry with him for saving me, I knew. But in that moment, my pride was the least on my mind.

* * *

><p>November 12th 1997<p>

"So, Ashley, how was your week?"

I lifted my head, and rolled my eyes to the man sitting calmly in front of me. His name was Timothy-something, but I really could have cared less what that "something" was. All I knew was that he was the man I was forced to spend an hour and a half a week with. And that was enough to make me hate his stupid, old man guts.

The therapist's office was bland, as one would imagine an office like it to be. There was the large mahogany desk that he never sat at, choosing instead to roll his dumb little wheely chair over to the long, cushioned couch-like-thing I was currently laying on. But I could never really sit still, especially not with an old man looking down on me like that. So after only a few minutes laying down, I sat up, and crossed my legs, bouncing on the balls on my feet anxiously.

"Fan-fucking-tastic, as pew usual." I replied, looking at Timothy angirly.

My long blonde hair was shoved into a baseball cap, and messily; every few minutes, I brought up my hand angirly and tucked stray hairs behind my ears, only to have them fall into my face again. As I did this for the millionth time, I glanced up at the clock that Timoty had set up behind his desk. It was the kind with roman numerals, of course. Because regular numbers wouldn't match the stick-up-our-professional-asses office decor they had going in this place.

One hour and twenty five minutes left. God kill me now.

"Ashley." Timothy gave me his usual, disapproving old man look that just made me want to leave so much more. "Sarcasm is not appreciate, and neither is your language. I'm trying t help you. Now please," he forced a tight lipped smile, which was really just a brief lift of the corner of his mouth. "how was your week?"

"I told you, doc. I like to be called "Ash". And if you must know...it was okay, I guess."

He made a quick note on the clipboard he felt compelled to keep balanced on his knee throughout our sessions, and then looked up at me again. "So how is school?"

"Oh, you mean hell?" I asked, turning my face away. "Hell is fine."

Every session was the same thing, and if he thought my answer would ever change, well, then he really wasn't that great of a therapist. And yet, each time I entered that god-damn office, he asked me the same questions. It was all such a tiring cycle, really.

I recieved another disapproving look before he moved on. "And how are you getting along with your parents, and your sister?"

There was no point lying.

"Well," I said, clapping my hands together and causing old Tim-Tim to jump slightly. "Mother's terribly, as usual. she keeps forcing me to be a lady, be her, be my sister... I can't believe her. But what else is new, right?" Timothy gave a dismissive shrug, which meant he wasn't agreeing with me, but was rather showing that he was aknowledging my rant's subjects. "And then there's father. It's worse with him, really. He's getting frusterated, but I can't blame him."

Timothy seemed to be waiting for more when I finished.

"That's it, I guess." I looked away too quickly, and began fidgeting with the brim of my cap.

"Well, what about your sister, Ashl...Ash?"

I sighed. "Janice is nice as always, I suppose. She's sticking up for me at school, trying to diffuse the conflicts..." I focused steadily on the blank part of Timothy's wall where he hadn't nailed up some sort of diploma, or award, or frame. "Nothing's changed with her, I guess."

Therapy was good for sorting out your feelings. I knew that, don't get me wrong; I appreciated the sessions...sort of. I just hated going so much. It was nice that Timothy didn't judge me. It was nice saying my problems out loud without someone snorting, scoffing, clearing their throat to hide a chuckle. So yeah, Doc was great, even if he did have a habit of never shutting up, _and _asking the obvious questions. Such as:

"Does this anger you?"

I tossed him a look. "No shit it does."

He motioned for me to continue wordlessly, readying his pen over his dumb clipboard as if he thought he was about to make some great big break through.

"Sorry, doc." I muttered. "I'm not in the mood to-"

"I understand." he made a quick note, before saying, "May I ask what that is around your neck?"

For a moment, I just stared at his face, and then I looked down, feeling my cheels coloring slightly. "Hmm? Oh. It's nothing." It would only upset my parents further when he told them, and I really didn't need that, not ontop of what was already going on at home.

"Ash." Timothy spoke seriously, lowering his glasses to give me that god-damn look again. "There are no secrets here."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine then."

Without breaking his gaze, I pulled out my new pedant with the pentacle and cross combination. I lifted it higher for him to see, and at first Timothy squitned at it, like he couldn't quite make out what it was. But when he did, his eyes widened noticeably before he could compose himself.

"Who, uh, gavve you that?"

"Some friends." I muttered nonchalantly, tucking it back inside the collar of my shirt.

"Who?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

So we didn't. But he made another freaking note. "Ash," Timothy murmured gently as he set his pen on his clipboard, and raised his eyes to mine. "Your parents tell me they'd found a book of yours. The one will all of the names? Care to explain?"

I said nothing, crossing my arms over my chest and looking down at the ground.

"I did some research," he continued, lifting up a paper on his clipboard to peer at one underneath, "and I found that the names were victims of unsolved...gruesome murders." Timothy sighed, letting the paper fall again before looking at me. "What is that about?"

On a whim, I decided to make his day interesting, as well as further frustrate my parents.

"They happen to be the names of victims killed by the supernatural." I answered calmly, pausing to take off my cap, shake out my hair, and then set it back on my head with a small smile. "You know, demons, spirits, Gods, vampires, etcetra. I keep it for motivation."

There was that look again. "Uh-huh."

And here it comes.

"Ashley...Ash," he corrected himself when I glowered, "You know as well as I do that those creatures are all just myths and stories. None of it is real, or out there looking to muder people." He gave a low, throaty laugh and shook his head. "That's preposterous!" But his laughter stopped suddenly, and he gave me a curious look. "Wait...motivation for what?"

A smirk spread across my face. Could the old man take it?

"Ash?"

"Well," I said, looking away. "it's motivation for killing these evil sons of bitches."

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of standing alone with Castiel, I saw a blurry shape moving toward us. For a horrified moment, I thought it was the man in the elevator from my past, crawling towards me, coming to kill me... But it was Sam, Dean, Mira and Lily coming outside. I exhaled with relief, but it only lasted so long.<p>

"Cas!" Dean called out, waving at him.

He noded at the approaching group. "Hello Dean. Miranda, Sam, Lillian." As he greeted them each one in turn, I noticed Sam staring at him with a look of awe, and almost resent. They all wore amazed expressions, actually. And it made me nervous.

"You...You saved Ash." Mira stated with wide eyes.

Castiel nodded calmly.

I grew aware of my puffy red eyes, and the dried tears that sparkled on my cheeks. There was also a funny, hallow feeling in my chest, something I didn't entirely understand. As I began wiping at my face angirly, Lily frowned.

"You really don't like elevators, do you?"

"No," I gave a shaky laugh, "I don't." I avoided Dean's gaze, because I knew _he _knew I was trying to put on a brave face, when all I wanted to do was go kill something... So instead, I cleared my throat, and looked to Mira. "You got the spirit then?"

"Yeah." She seemed to be over her momentary awe, and nodded. "We used an electrical outlet that was sparking to start a fire."

"Great. I could really go for a drink. Or nine."

Dean clapped a hand on my back, and I jumped. "I'm up for that!"

Shrugging away from him, I muttered for them to head to the cars, that I would be there in a moment. As soon as we were alone, I turned to Cas, and sighed.

"Hey." My hands dug into my pockets, trying to keep a hard composure, but as well, eye contact. Both were proving difficult. "Thanks."

"He's dead, Ashley. Rest easy, as he does." Castiel raised a hand to my forehead, brushing my bangs aside. And then, he was gone.

"Oh crap."

I pressed my face against the passenger window of our van, immediately recognizing the bar we were pulling into. While I had been sleeping, I'd some how managed up in the rural area I'd grown up in. I knew it well; the bar was owned and managed by a hunter named Carl Winston, and was a hot spot for other hunters. I didn't mind the bar. It'd be nice to see Carl again. But the last time I'd been even remotely near that place... Well, let's just say it wasn't a happy parting.

"What's wrong?" Mira asked from behind the wheel.

I sat up slowly as she parked the van in a spot beside the Impala. "Why are we here?"

Lily was already unbuckling her belt, and turned to wait for me to get out so she could as well. "Dean said this was the closest one for miles. We all want a drink so..." She shrugged and trailed off, letting me fill in the blanks. "Besides, what's wrong with it?"

"Nothing." I said quickly, opening my door. "I just know the owner, that's all."

I felt them both looking at me, but I ignored them for the time being, pausing in the parking lot to stretch my back muscles and squint up at the sky. Lily came up beside me, Mira on the other side, and they gave me expectant stares. I sighed and gave in.

"Carl's an old friend of mine."

Neither spoke.

"He's a hunter, so he'll cover for us if the police come-a-knocking."

It wasn't an excuse. That was the truth; he was a long time friend _because _he was a hunter. I could tell they were thinking it through, obviously since they were curious as to what my history was with this place. As long as they just knew I had an old friend here, I was in the clear.

"Let's go inside." I muttered, pushing past them to walk up to the bar doors.

It wasn't exactly in a remote location, so there was no suprise when it was practically empty inside. As I passed through the doors, I glanced at the sign stuck on the building above me, and noticed it was still missing neon letters. A smile spread across my face. Typical Carl.

Inside, it was darkly lit, and only a few people with shaded faces sat hunched on bar stools. I couldn't see clearly, and jumped slightly when Dean came up beside me, and tapped me on the shoulder. "Lily says you know the owner."

"Yeah." I said, squinting behind the bar to see if he was there. "He's an old friend."

Dean nodded, and gave me a little nudge. "Come with me then. Everyone in here looks like they want to kill me."

I gave an amused smile as he pulled me towards the bar, making sure I was a few steps ahead of him just incase one of the drunk men decided to take a swing at us. I stepped between two empty bar stools, and rested my arms on the counter, grinning at the man who was opening a new 24 pack.

"Hey there, Carl."

For a minute, he looked as if he didn't recognize me. But then, his eyes widened, and he grinned. "Holy shit. Is that who I think it is?"

Carl was an older man, probably around his late forties now. He was, and probably would be, one of the nicest people I'd ever met, with the purest of intentions. I'd never once heard him judge a soul, and it was him and his friends who taught me about the supernatural when I was younger, and came stumbling into his bar, desperate to be told. After I ran away, he gave me cash for help. For years, he supported me, and never pressured me with the guilt of my actions. You'd think it would have been weird for me, being a teenager hanging out with an older man. But he was more of a father than my real one ever was.

"What have you been up to?" He handed me a beer, and then tossed a curious look at Dean, who stood wordlessly at my side.

As I cracked open the drink, I shrugged. "Hunting, Carl. What else? Here, meet my friends."

"No shit! You actually met people, hunters you liked? And you're on a team now?" he gave a low whistle as the rest of my friends approached. "I'll be damned."

I introduced them one by one. "This is Lily and Mira, and that's Dean and Sam Winchester."

Carl nodded at Lily and Mira, but he looked more impressed to see me with Sam and Dean. "You're running with the Winchester boys, huh Ash?" He came around the bar to stand in front of them, shaking their hands. "John wasa great man, and Bobby's a good man too. You boys still in touch with him I hear? Well, remind him to stop in for a dirnk sometime, on me. Damn," he shook his head, giving a short laugh. "I haven't spoken to so many hunters in years."

"Hey C-Carl." one man sitting at the far end of the bar wobbily raised his arm. "Can I get 'nother drink from ya?"

With a disgusted sigh, Carl held up his finger at me, and then turned towards the clump of people who remained on their stools. "Out, now, all of ya. We're closed." When no one moved, he clapped his hands loudly, like he was getting rid of dogs. "Go on now, get!"

It took a few minutes for the drunk men to stumble out, all grumbling amongst each other, but once the bar was empty, Carl turned off the "open" neon light, and then returned to where we remained stranding. "Sorry about that. I don't get the same customers as I used to, you know."

I nodded understandingly, and then took a long pull of my beer before asking, "So, what have you been up to?"

He began handing out beers, and shrugged his shoulders. "Most of the same, I guess. Actually, I've been training new hunters more than actually hunting myself, now. The real question, though, is what the hell have you been doing?" Carl leaned against the corner as we each took a stool, giving me an amazed shake of his head. "I saw that bounty, damn."

"What can I say? Killing monsters is a passion."

Beside me, Dean laughed, and clapped me on the back. "This girl, huh?"

As if just remember he was there, Carl turned to where he sat, and grinned. "I've heard a lot about what you guys have been doing, you know, from hunters passing through town. Good work, boys. Both of you." He nodded at Sam, sitting at the far end of the bar with Mira. "Really."

Dean took a sip of his beer, and looked at me. "I like this guy."

It felt so good to be back with Carl, sort of like coming home after a long time being away. Despite the tension from being so close to...well, my past, I was oddly at ease, watching as my friends talked with each other, and with Carl. Even Lily, who usually wasn't the most comfortable in bars, since she didn't drink, was having a good time, sticking close to Dean as he discussed past hunts with Carl. It was all going so well, until...

"A-Ashley?"

I turned around, a scowl on my face at the sound of my full name. But the scowl soon fell into a hard line of disbelief when I found where the voice had come from, an approaching group of three just passing through the doors of the bar.

Mira gave them a curious once over. "Who are they?"

I couldn't speak. My eyes followed the group as they drew closer.

"Ashley, that...that is you, isn't it?" The voice was shaking, like they were afraid.

"Oh shit." Carl cussed, pushing away from the bar. "Hey, we're closed-"

"Ash?" Sam came up beside me, keeping his gaze set on them. "What's going on here?"

Without looking at any of them, I got off of my stool, and met the group half way, standing in front of them with my arms crossed, and head high. I spoke with an even tone, greeting each of them with a curt nod. "Mother, Father, Janice."


	22. Twenty Two Ash

22. Ash

December 25th, 1997

I couldn't stand it anymore. I was suffocating.

Every day was the same. Private school, hell. Therapy, hell. The only relief was going out, away from this shitty life, and studying about hunting. I knew that becoming a hunter was my destiny. It was all I could imagine myself doing, all I wanted to do. So I skipped school to study as much as I could, but eventually, my parents got word of my attendance record and personally saw to it i got to school. Janice walked me to my classes, which I knew was just as embarrassing for her as it was for me. My parents were getting increasingly worried about my interests, but I didn't care. Like I said, it was my destiny.

I was most happy when I was with a team of hunters -older, much older- that I had befriended. They were teaching me about hunting, though I knew I annoyed them sometimes with my lack of knowledge and expirience. But they didn't give up, lending me books, and showing me how to hold weapons properly. In no time, I was just as well taught as they all were. One even gave me her pendant, telling me how proud she was. I felt right, perfectly at ease.

It didn't take long before I stopped getting much sleep. I spent my nights studying the supernatural, since it wasn't safe to do it during the day; my parents had a tendency to loom, and if they ever caught me, that would be the end of that.

I'd only ever been hunting once, when I tagged along with the others. I'd helped out, too, by pouring holy water on a demon to distract it. And I'd felt so alive when I did. That was when I really knew that this was the life I was meant to live. So I intended on living it as much as I could.

Eventually, I grew tired of my blond hair, and dyed it, as well as chopped it short. It became the talk of my private school, my new style, and Timothy had a near fit when he found out. But it was my parents who took it the worst.

One morning, late december, I woke up and immediately sensed that something was wrong. Sitting up in bed, I saw someone had broken the salt line that I had made across the floor of my doorway. But the chills came when I saw my room was practically bare.

My knife collection, as small as it was, was gone. So were my various maps tacked onto the wall, newspaper clippings, diagrams and photgraphs. With ym heart hammering loudly against my ribcage, I looked to my bookshelf, having caught movement out of the corner of my eye.

And there was my mother, throwing all of my hunting books into a garbage bag.

"No!" I cried, kicking off my blankets and running over, just as mom picked up the bag and stormed outside.

I followed her as she rounded the corner of the hallway, and pushed through the screen door, dropping the garbage bag of my precious books right in the middle of the snow covered lawn. "I have had enough of this insanity!" She cried, turning as I crashed through the screen. "It has to end _now_!"

As I was just making my way across the lawn, she grabbed for something out of her pocket. She struck a match, and dropped it into the bag. I jumped back when it caught fire, the flames licking up the books, my life. Someone's arms wrapped around me, pulling me away.

"I'm so sorry, Ashley." Father said, struggling against my wild thrashing. "But your mother is right. this has gone too far. We're trying to help you, and you'll realise in time this is for the better."

"No!" I'd never felt so betrayed. "That's all of my work!"

Everything that got me up in the morning, everything that made me feel right, was going up in flames right before my eyes, and there was nothing I could do about it. The satisfied look my mother wore just made it all the more worse.

Something inside of me just...snapped.

Breaking away from my father with a hard shove, I stormed back inside the house, hearing my parents talking loudly behind me. My father asked if my mom thought I would be okay. He sounded nervous. "She'll be fine." My mom assured him with a stern voice. "Now she doesn't have all of this blasphemy surrounding her."

Their voices faded as I rounded the corner, and threw open the door of my bedroom, red hot angry tears streaming down my face. There was only one thing on my mind at that moment; I needed out, and I needed out now. The first thing I did was grab my school bag from the end of my bed, throwing my books and binders at the wall as I emptied it. Then, I dropped to my knees, and using my bare hands, I pried up a loose floorboard I had discovered about a year and a half before. I would have usualyl used the crowbar, but there was no time to go looking for it.

Inside the floor, I grabbed for three of my most trasured books, (my diary of victims, the first book on hunting I'd ever written, and one of my fellow hunter's journal that he had given to me), as well as my favourite knnife, a bottle of salt, a lighter, and some photographs. One was of my family and I, and then of my hunting friends and I.

Without a second thought, I lit the family photo until it curled into itself in black ash.

The other photo was stuck deep inside of my pocket as I loaded my bag with my few remaining hunting items. I hesitated for a moment with my knife in my hand, twirling the blade thoughtfully, before sticking it into the waist band of my pants.

In the kitchen, I threw open the cupboards, and pulled out various canned foods, adding them to my bag. In went the bottles of water from the fridge, and anything else I could find that wouldn't go bad on the way. Just as I was loading more canned goods from above the stove, I heard Janice come in.

"Oh Ashley." She sighed, seeing what I was doing.

I gritted my teeth. "Fuck off, Janice."

"What do you plan on doing, Ashley?" she stepped closer, and leaned against the counter as she spoke to me, sounding pleading. "Running away? Is that what you're going to do? Where will you go? Have you thought that far yet? You can't live without us and you know it. Stay." Her hand found my shoulder, and I flinched as she touched me. "You'll see that this...this hunting buisness will get you nowhere." She was using the same voice she always used on me, the voice of reason. It was the voice that she used to remind me of the three year gap between us, and that she was "more mature" than me because of that. She thought she knew what was best for me. So did mom and dad. But I was done with all of that.

"Anywhere is better than this prison." I snarled, pushing past her to grab the money jar mom had kept beside the toaster, the one that held all of our emergency money. I decided this qualigied. It was a little under five-hundred dollars that I shoved into my pocket, much to Janice's disapproval.

"Come on, Ashley! Put the money back! I'm not going to let you just take it."

Without looking at her, I closer the zipper of my bag, and turned on my heels, running to the screen door. Outside, mom and dad were dousing out the fire they'd made.

"Hey!" I shouted, and they both turned to look at me.

"I just wanted to tell you, thanks for making my life hell." I pushed open the screen door, and stepped onto the lawn, glowering at them darkly. "The therapy you put me through, always taking the principal's side, and never realizing that everyone at school hated me and that I was miserable... No, all you guys cared about was wanting me to be more like precious little Janice, right?"

Neither of them spoke. They just stared at me.

"Well," I continued, my voice going hoarse. "I am not Janice, and all of that pressure you put on me, your disapproval of my life, and resentment of me, forcing me to give up the only part of my life I love is _sickening_!" Stepping forwards, I felt my hands curling into fists at my sides, and I forced myself to keep going. "I am leaving. I am leaving this God-damn place, because you suck as parents. You all suck as family!" I turned when I heard Janice coming out of the house, and made sure she heard that. "I hate you all, and everything you stand for!"

I could have stayed and listened to them plea for me not to go. Or maybe they weren't going to say anything. Maybe my own family was perfectly content with me leaving, I didn't care. So rather than waiting, I hitched my bag up on my shoulder, and walked down the lawn, ignoring the shocked expressions I was recieving.

And I left. Down the sidewalk, just me and my bag, heading toward my new life.

* * *

><p>The entire bar was silent. No one seemed to know what to say.<p>

Mother spoke after a long pause. "Is...is it really true? What they say, about you committing all of those crimes? The murders?"

"Well, yeah, they are." There was no point lying to them. "I'm a hunter, mom. I've never killed anything that's human."

My parents obviously didn't believe me. My father looked guilty, and frightened at the same time, as well as mother. Janice just stood like marble, complete expressionless. But her face was pale, so it was obvious that she was terrified as well.

"Is that what you tell yourself?" father whispered, a hitch in his voice. "Is that what makes you think doing all of this is...is okay?"

"I didn't think you'd believe me." I muttered, looking down at my empty beer to avoid their sad gazes. "Whatever. Believe what you want, see if I care." I wasn't exactly angry anymore. Maybe it was because they no longer had control over me. But when I looked at them, I only felt a sad little empty feeling, and a distant nostalgia.

"Oh God," mom burried her face in her hands with a sob. "This is all my fault..."

"No, it isn't." I said awkwardly, just staring as she began to cry. "Don't...don't blame yourself for the fact that I'm not normal." This was all so dream like, as if any minute I would wake up in some dingy motel somewhere. I tried to take a step forward, but my mother took a terrified step back. That was when I noticed just how older she looked now. They all did. And I'm sure I did as well.

Janice, who had been standing off to the side, watching the reunion, stepped away from my parents to give me a long, confused look. She seemed so professional, wearing a black pencil skirt with a loose, silk red top and cardigan. Her hair was shorter than had it had been the last time I'd seen her, but she still bore the same blond that ran in the family. I could just guess what her life was like now; white picket fenced house in the suburbs with a nice normal husband, maybe a kid or two. She probably had a great job that paid the bills and established her as succesful, while I was sitting in a bar with the same clothes on I'd worn the day before, and drinking beer. There's no justice in the world.

I noticed my father comparing us, then. He studied me up and down with those hard eyes he's always had, his strong jaw working like he was trying to swallow what was in front of him, and it obviously wasn't going down easy. He looked at Janice for a moment, at her well kept appearence, and then back at me again, the screwup, runaway psycho with the batshit insane life.

The thought made me laugh.

And soon, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

"What is so funny?" Janice snapped, and she sounded so much like her old self that I just laughed harder.

While my sister looked on at me as though I were turning insane, right before her eyes, (maybe I was, who knows?) my father noticed the group of people seated around me. "Ash," he spoke curtly, keeping his eyes on them. "You made some...friends, I see?"

Something inside of me -pride, I assume- began to swell. "Yeah, dad, I did."

Here I was, showing my father _my _successes. Maybe I wasn't a teacher, or a lawyer. But I'd impoved, and I wanted so badly to show him that. "Dad, these are my friends." I took a few steps back until I was squished between Dean's stool and my empty one, and then I began introducing them. "This is Dean. He's basically me, only...well, he's a guy, and he gets laid more often."

Janice inhaled sharply, but I ignored her and continued.

"Then there's Lily." I walked around Dean to his other side where Lily sat, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, grinning. "She's really smart, and shy. But she's always got my back. That's Mira beside her. She's super nice, and keeps me morally grounded." I looked to my sister, who was staring at my friends with a look of...amusement? "She's even more morally clean than you, Jan."

My sisster scoffed. "Is that really nessisary-"

"And Sam," I interjected, and then stopped, noticing the empty stool beside Mira, who was looking equally confused at it. "I don't exactly know where he went, but, well, he's Dean's brother, a bit of a nerd, though his heart's in the right place. I've got one more friend, but he's not here. He's-" I stopped myself before I continued, and cleared my throat, changing tracks swiftly. "Anyway, that's about it. Family, meet my friends. Friends, meet my family."

No one spoke. Even Dean, who was usually ready with a few quips, was silent, looking at his drink awkwardly. I sighed, and stuck my hands deep inside my jean's pockets, looking to my father. He stared at me with narrowed eyes and a heavy brow, like he was trying to figure something out.

"And you all...hunt...monsters, together?"

I gave a serious nod, to which his eye brows rose, disappearing under his mop of gray hair.

"I know it sounds crazy man," Dean said, giving a slight shrug of his shoulders. "But it's the real deal."

I could almost feel the air losing some of its tension when the doors flew open, and Sam came rushing inside, grabbing for Mira's hand as he pushed past my sister and father. "We've got to go. Come on, everyone up." Despite his hurrid tone, no one moved.

"Whoa, slow down road runner." Dean stared at him. "What's the rush?"

Sam was in the midst of pulling Mira off her stool when he stopped, and pointed at me. "Her mother just called the police on us. We have about four minutes before they swarm the bar." At once, everyone was off their stools, grabbing for discarded jackets and bags.

I turned on my heels to see my mother in the doorway, cell phone in hand, and tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, giving me a pleading look. "It's what's right."

I swore under my breath, and pushed aside my father as I made a run for the door where my friends were waiting for me. Thinking quickly, I looked over my shoulder at Carl, who was looked stunned from the news. "We were never here!" I called, and he gave a quick nod.

My mom stepped in front of the doors, blocking them. "You c-can't leave! I won't let you! You're a disgrace, and a crimal!"

It was so hard to even look at her, to know we shared the same flesh and blood. But I had to, because she was in the way. As I reahced out to forceably move her, I heard my father's quiet voice behind me.

"Wait."

When I turned towards him, he opened his mouth again, looking like he wanted to say something more. But the others were already outside, waiting for me. In the distance, loud sirens rang out, and I forced myself to look away from my father, and shove my mother to the side as I ran out of the bar.

* * *

><p>That night, as I lay in bed in a hotel one state over, I stared up at the ceiling. I was exhausted from all the running, all of the things I'd left behind along the way. Then again, I suppose I 've gained a few things. I thought of my new friends, all of the bad in the world I'd gotten rid of, the people I've saved... the smell of rain as I clutched to Castiel, all of the places I've been, and all the places I'm bound to end up. And with all of that in mind, I turned on my side, and fell asleep. Well, I guess that's the life of a hunter.<p>

**A/N: hey dere:) FinnHudsonxoxo here, and I'm just letting eveeeeerybody know that RainbowTurkeyofDoom and I are extremely pleased with the turnout of our fanfiction! It's awesome to see how many people are adding "All the Stars" to their favourites, and their alerts! BUT, we would LOOOOVE to hear what you guys think of the story so far! Do you like the characters? Is the plot running smoothly with the episodes, and are you happy with the OC pairings? Let us know! We take all reviews, good bad, whatever! We'll try our best to improve on anything, but the only way we know we have to improve is if you guys review! So, now that my little spiel is over, I have one thing to say:**

**Let's see those reviews, awesome fanfiction...ers? Fanfictioners? Is that a word? ... anyway, thanks for reading everybody!**

**-FinnHudsonxoxo**


	23. Twenty Three Mira

23. Mira

By the time the clock rang eleven, we are all packed and ready to leave the hotel. It was a mutual agreement among us to remain with Sam and Dean, despite the fact that we hadn't yet caught wind of a new case. I was sure, as well as everyone else, that one would come up soon. They always seemed to fall into our laps, so it was best to keep moving. Once we had loaded the van, we were on the road, travelling behind the Impala.

"You know," Lily murmured, turning around in her seat to cast a worried glance at Ash, who slept soundly in the back. "She's been drinking a lot over the past few weeks."

I gave a snort in response, finding nothing out of the ordinary in her observation.

"I mean it!" she pressed, and then sighed. "She hasn't been _really_ drunk in a while, but halloweeen was pretty bad. Her cheeks had those little red dots she gets when she throws up for three days."

My nose wrinkled. "Lovely, Lily, thank you."

"Don't you think there might be something up?"

"I try not to think about anything going wrong." The Impala suddenly turned to the left, and I pressed my foot down on the break and twisted the wheel sharply, quick to follow them without fish-tailing the van. "God, do you have any idea where we're heading?"

Relaxing back into her seat, Lily shrugged her shoulders. "Not sure, but Dean said something about heading West."

"So we're just driving until we find a case?"

"That's what it's looking like." Lily grabbed for a map out of the glove compartment in front of her, but just as the folded paper was in her hands, she stuck it back inside, and closed the hatch with an exasperated sigh. "Do you mind if I vent to you?"

That was never good. "About what?"

"Dean."

Of course. "Why don't you go talk to Ash instead? Maybe she'll...care more."

Lily tossed a quick glance over her should before rolling her eyes. "She's a little out of it right now, Mira. And don't tell me you don't want to talk about Sam either. I see the way you react every time he mentions Ruby."

Unconciously, I flinched, and Lily gave me a look that told me I had just proved her point.

"Listen," I muttered darkly, gripping the wheel tighter than I intended. "There's nothing going on between Sam and I. So I don't care who he sleeps around with...even if it is a demon." Just talking about it was like watching Sam and Ruby together; it hurt so much. How come he couldn't see what ever else did about her, about how she was nothing but trouble and that being with her would probably result in who knows what? The whole prediciment just gave her a head ache to match the unyeilding ache in her heart. But Sam just wouldn't stop it.

"Personally," Lily turned her face towards the window, staring at the passing scenery with a vacant gaze. "I think Sam's a great guy, and I can see the way you two look at each other. And I know you're secretly worried about what's going on between him and Ruby. But come on." She looked at me, and tilted her head, shaking it slowly. "You _know _it's not going to last, whatever it is. So why worry?"

Well...why?

Maybe because Sam was the first person that ever made me feel safe.

Sam was the only one I knew, beside my sisters, that reminded what "normal" felt like, and he took away every bad memory with a single glance.

Because I had no idea what was going on between him and Ruby, or why, and that was enough to keep me up at night.

I wouldn't admit this to Lily, but I think iI finally understood how she felt when it came to Dean and his flirting. Of course, Sam wasn't as much of a flirt as his brother, but I remembered how upset and betrayed Lily had felt about him and the constant need to talk up any girl in sight. I felt the exact same way when I thought about Sam and Ruby.

"Anyway," She continued, taking my silence as refusal to answer her question. "I saw the way you hugged Sam on that Halloween case. It looked...intimate."

I'd nearly forgotten about that. How nice of her to remind me. "Well, what about you and Dean? Obviously your little fight is over now."

She blushed. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

"Oh, you're done venting now?"

"Concentate on the road, Mira."

The smile on my face that I'd put on for her sake wavered as she turned her head away again. I tried to concentrate on the tail lights on the Impala, but something was eating at me, and I knew exactly what it was. I was just glad when the sound of Ash rousing from sleep came from the back of the van, and she was suddenly struggling to climb into the middle between Lily and I.

"Good morning." I shifted over slightly so she'd have enough room to swing her legs over the seat. "Sleep well?"

She collapsed into place with a groan, and then rubbed at her tired eyes, shooting me a dark look when she'd finished. "Oh, fantastic. Until you two woke me up with your insenuious takling. Ever heard of a goddamn diary?"

Lily grinned. "Please. Like you don't have anything to add to our stories either." She leaned down, and whispered loudly, "Perhaps about a certain Angel that came to your rescue a few nights ago?"

I noticed Ash reaching for her knife, but she didn't get it out, chosing instead to let her hand hover over it threatingly. "Say another word, Lil, I _dare you_. He didn't rescue me anyway. Scew that...that _nerd _Angel!" She sounded so determined to convince us there was nothing between them that I only grew even more convinced.

"All I'm saying is you two were pretty close when we came out of that hotel."

Ash shot Lily an even darker look than the one I'd recieved. "You're really tredding on thin ice here, McDonald. I've got lots of stories about you and Dean that I don't feel the need to bring up, but I will if I have to." I knew she did, and so did I, but Lily didn't look the least bit fazed.

"Do your worst. At least I can admit it."

Neither Ash nor I asked what she was amditting to, because really, it wasn't hard to figure out. Lily's cheeks colored, almost as if she hadn't entirely meant to say what she had, and was rethinking her sentence and realizing the mistake. But I wouldn't hold it to her. Because if there wasn't a demon in the way, I might have admitted the same thing, too.

* * *

><p>It was getting near midnight before the Impala finally turned in somewhere, and I followed their lead, glad to be off the road and into a parking lot. Of course we were at a bar. It was a better quality one than the last one we'd been at, where we'd met up with Ash's family, but it was still darly lit, giving off a certain vibe that I wans't fond of. As we followed Sam and Dean though the doors, I took my money out of my back pocket, and subtly stuck it into the front of my jeans, just to be sure.<p>

"Hey Dean?" Lily hurried to catch up to him, casting worried looks behind her. I wondered what she was looking at until she spoke again. "A bar might not be the best place for Ash right now."

Dean looked at Ash briefly before shrugging his shoulders. "She looks fine to me."

"Just wait until she's had a couple."

"Relax, would you Lily? It's not like being drunk is entirely a bad thing." he shrugged his shoulders, much to Lily's dismay. "Let the girl live."

I walked past the two, who'd grabbed stools at the bar already, and leaned against the far wall of the bar, rubbing at my throbbing temples. I really needed a drink, but I didn't feel much like ordering one, just incase one became five and I became the new Ash. Sometimes, it's so easy to forget your priorities when you've got a heavy mind and an even heavier heart. All I wanted to do was get out of the bar and back on the road. Driving gave me time to think.

When I looked over at Lily again, I noticed that Dean wasn't looking at her. He was watching Sam on the other side of the bar from us, who'd fallen into a chair with a couple of drunk-looking men, and was playing cards. How did he manage to just fit in like that? I almost smiled, wondering if he was hustling for the motel room, before something moved in the corner of my eye. I only had to barely look before I recognized the person.

"I'll be right back." I heard Dean tell Lily, who'd obviously seen the same thing I had.

It was her.

The girl Sam had spent his summer while Dean was in hell with, rather than with us.

The demon girl.

Ruby.

My throat tightened instantly as I watched her, moving with a sly smoothness through the maze of drunken men to get to where Sam was. Her vessel was a good looking girl, and all the men she was passing knew it, too. A couple commented while others remained silent, watching her stop beside Sam and touch her hand to his shoulder.

I wans't upset any more. I was angry.

Somewhere besisde me, Lily was talking to Ash about her having a drink.

"It's one beer!" Ash protested, coming up on my left to glower at her. "Tell her Mira! You can't get drunk off just one."

I was still watching Ruby, her hand on Sam and eyes fluttering as she spoke quietly to him. Sam didn't look at her, but he was nodding his head slightly, so he was obviously listening. Dean was making his way over to the both of them, looking far more pissed than I was. That look was what made the players in Sam's card game scatter. Something was wrong.

"Mira?" Ash nudged me with her cool bottle. "You there?"

I blinked, and then focused on her, looking up at me with a confused expression. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Uh, no reason I guess."

That was when I noticed the bottle in her hand, and I gave a loud, tired sigh.

"Oh come on, Mira! Not you too! I was smashed yesterday, so I think I'm going to be nice to my liver for the next little while. It's one freaking beer!"

Lily hopped off her stool, and came over to join us, her hands on her hips. "Ash, we know you, and-"

"Hey!" She interupted her for before she could finish. "Is...is that who I think it is?"

Oh great. I followed Ash's line of vision, and saw that Ruby was still over with Sam, now bent down over the table so she could whisper in his ear. My heart pulled when his lips gave way to a smile. No Sam, stop it! I swallowed tightly, and looked back at Ash and Lily, who were weighing my mood carefully with curious expressions.

"Should we go over?" Lily asked, nodding towards the two. "Dean's all alone, and he won't get through to Sam by himself."

I grimmaced, but knew she was right. With Ruby involved, this wasn't going to be a one person job.

Pushing away from the wall, I followed Lily and Mira over to where Sam and Ruby remained, and where Dean had finally caught up with them, and was speaking in a low, menancing voice. "You've got a lot of nerve, showing up here."

Ruby cocked an eye brow at him. "Oh hey Dean, good to see you too." She noticed the three of us, looming behind him with dark looks. "And who are your friends?"

"What a demon bitch." Ash muttered, and Ruby's smug smile fell instantly.

"Well aren't you just the brightest little ray of sunshine."

Without waiting to hear Ash's remark, Ruby straightened up from the table, from Sam, and looked to me. Something happened in that one look, and as she stared me down, unmoving and expressionless, I felt a lot of things. Judged, for one, and embarrassed, as well as insecure, hopeless, ashamed and jealous. Most of all, I was jealous, especially since while she was looking at me, her goddamn hand remained secure on Sam's shoulder, and he made no move to get it off.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot apprehensively, unsure whether or not I should be nervous or completely pissed off. But how would that look to Sam, if I acted like Ruby? Not very good, I guessed, since I was supposed to be the calm, morally grounded member of the group. So for ihs sake, and my own, I just looked away from Ruby, and she spoke again.

"I'm here with information, Dean, that's all. I've been hearing some whispers."

"Demon whispers." Dean narrowed his eyes. "That's reliable."

Ash let out a snort of laughter beside him, and like a whip, Ruby's gaze fell on her's, looking irritated.

"Oh yes, you're so very tough. We're all aware." She looked at Ash for a second longer before turning to Dean again, finally removing her hand from Sam's shoulder to place it firmly on her hip. "A girl named Anna Milton escaped from a locked mental ward yesterday. A lot of heavy hitting demons are after her, with orders to keep her alive. You might want to check it out."

When Dean was about to speak, Lily stepped out from behind his shoulder, and crossed her arms over her chest, giving Ruby a pointed look. "Do you have nay proof that this Anna exists to give to us? We're kind of busy, and we really don't have a lot of time to go chasing after your leads, especially since the source isn't exactly a reliable one."

"Look," Ruby sounded completely pissed off now, like she was resisting the urge to off us all. "I'm just giving you the information. It's up to you if you follow it."

Sam, who had been quiet throughout the entire conversation, suddenly looked up at her. "Does the hospital she escaped from have a name?"

I noticed the soft tone he used with her. He'd used it with me before. My heart sank just a little bit further.

"Connor Beverly Behavioral Medicine Center." Ruby answered. "You might want to hurry before the trail goes cold, or the demons get to her."

He nodded once, and watched as she retreated to the bar doors. We all watched, although he was the only one not wearing a look of hatred and mistrust. As soon as she was gone, I released the breath of air I hadn't realised I'd been holding, and then looked at the others.

Ash glowered at the spot where Ruby had just been standing. "Bitch."

"Exactly." Dean muttered, and the suspicous look that he tossed Sam did not go unnoticed.

"So," I fought to get back into Sam's line of vision, having to step in front of him and go up on my tiptoes so we were eye-to-eye. "Are we going to check this out?"

"Oh. Uh, might as well. It's not like we're working a case."

At that moment, it looked like Sam had just remembered where he was, and more importantly, who he was with. And it made my heart sink to the absolute very bottom of my stomach when his eyes landed on me, and I realised that that was the first time he'd really ever looked at me since Ruby had arrived. So this was what Lily felt like. God...it sucks.

* * *

><p>Ten hours later, and we were on the road again, driving. I offered to drive again, since it was the best way to focus, and I truly had a lot to think about. Lily and Ash were both up front with me this time, discussing the case and nothing but. As much as I would have appreciated venting to them aloud, I knew it would probably be safer to my sanity if I thought about things on my own. Sometimes I didn't recieve the right advice with my sisters, and even though I loved them, I knew what I wanted to hear. If they didn't tell me that, I could become worse.<p>

At some point, when the van had fallen quiet and left us all alone with our thoughts, my cell phone rang. When I reached for it, keeping one hand on the wheel, Lily warned me about the law, and so I let her answer it instead, even though I knew it was Sam and desperately wanted to talk to him. Their conversation was short, and didn't give Ash or I any hints on what it was about until Lily hung up and told us.

"They're going to check out the hospital while we go to head to the parent's home."

I was given a set of directions, and reluctantly pulled a U turn, and drove away from the receding Impala. As soon as it was out of sight in my rear view mirror, I slumped in my seat, and glared out the windsheild, just betting that Ruby would meet up with them at the hospital.

Ugh. Ruby.

The Milton's home was exactly the way you would picture a preacher's home to be, which was what we were informed Anna's father was. It rested on a quiet street, snug in a small lot with trees lining either side of the house and a porch leading up to the door. I thought about my own house as I climbed the stairs, about how normal it had looked too. That was the thing, though; it always seemed the worst events occured in the last place you would expect.

We came to the front door, dressed in our FBI outfits with Ash lingering in the back, struggling with the heels we'd given her. "Like walking on goddamn toothpicks." She complained, before taking them off completely, and tossing them into the bushes beside the porch. "Procede."

Lily sighed at her socked feet, but then turned away, and knocked on the door.

No one answered.

"Oh God." Ash groaned, tipping her head back and rubbing her eyes. "That demon bitch gave us a dead-end case, didn't she?"

I frowned to myself. "Maybe they're not home."

"No." Lily squinted behind us, and her eye brows pulled together. "There's cars in the driveway."

Something wasn't right. Even if this was a dead-end case, courtesy of Ruby, then how come no one was answering the door? I looked to Lily first, and then at Ash, who were both wearing the same expression I was, and undoubtedly thinking the same thing as well.

Ash touched her hand to the knob, giving it a quick turn. "Door's unlocked."

Uh oh.

Slowly, she pushed the door open the rest of the way, and the three of us stepped inside, Lily in the lead. "Mrs. Milton?" She called, peering up the wood staircase to the left of the door, and then to the room beside her. As she ventured further, I stopped, looking around with a worried expression. I'd done this before; come home to an empty house with no answer. But on that occasion, I'd found my fammily slaughtered. This wasn't going to be the same case, I thought..._hoped. _

"Crap."

As soon as I heard Lily in the other room, my shoulders slouched, and my eyes shut. Of course.

* * *

><p>"Dead?" Sam repeated with a weary look. "Great."<p>

We were parked outisde the church where Anna's father was a pastor, and as Lily, Ash and I filled the boy's in on our findings, I could feel my doubts towards Ruby's disappearing all together. Perhaps finding two adults murdered in a home doesn't scream Supernatural, but finding traces of sulphur does. This obviously wasn't done by humans. It was a demon job.

"Should we go inside?" I asked, motioning briefly towards the church. "She could be in there."

Lily handed out the guns she'd grabbed from the back of our van, which I suppose was as much of an answer as I was going to get.

Inside, the church was eerily quiet, having been empty due to the mid-afternoon visit. I was glad that we were the only ones there. It's always easier to work a case without distractions, and especially without people running around, stupidly putting themselves in danger.

Dean broke from the group when we pushed through the heavy church doors, and moved to quickly survey the length of the chapel before returning with a shake of his head. "Completely empty. There's no one in there, including Anna." he sounded annoyed, sort of like how I was feeling. Maybe we were sharing the same thoughts, too; was this a botched case? Or was Ruby telling the truth? So far, all we had was sulphur traces to go on, and that wasn't much, considering we were working with a demon already.

"You sure Anna wasn't in there?" Sam asked, and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm positive."

I was going to ask how we'd know what she looked like, but I suppose an escaped patient from a mental hospital might stand out amongst others.

"To the upstairs?" Lily offered, motioning her gun to the left of us were an old, wooden case heaeded upwards.

Dean nodded, and his face fell into a serious slate. "Let's go."

I think he was more determined to prove Ruby right (for Sam's sake) than to really find Anna. Although, I could be wrong. Anna was holding something over all of us that we needed. As we ascended up the stairs, I fell back behind Ash and Lily to be beside Sam, who gave me a half smile as I reached him. I didn't say anything, and neither did he, but we shared a look that made me feel so much better than I had while at the bar the night before.

The last step of the old stair case groaned as I reached the top floor, and a quick survey of my new surroundings showed multiple knooks and crannies where a young teenage girl could hide herself. To my left, I heard Sam raise his gun higher, having probably come to the same assumption that I had.

"Any signs of her?" Ash hissed, coming up beside me with her eyes roaming the room.

I was about to shake my head, until I squinted at a stain glass window pane at the far end of the room, and caught sight of movement behind it.

"Sam." I whispered, motioning at it. "Over there."

Despite the danger of the situation, Sam nodded slowly, and, taking equally slow steps, headed towards the glass, placing his gun in the waist band of his jeans. "Anna?" He said, loud enough for her to hear, but gentle enough as to not spook her. When the moving shape behind the glass ceased, Sam raised his eye brows, and continued walking at his steady pace. "We're not going to hurt you. We're here to help."

I held my breath as Sam reached his destination, and then stopped.

Nothing happened.

He looked over his shoulder at me curiously, and then turned back towards the glass. "My name is Sam, this is my brother Dean, and our friends Lily, Mira, and Ash."

He had only just finished when the sound of a timid, almost frightened voice came out from somewhere behind the glass. "Sam?" she asked, and then stopped, taking a moment to (from the sounds of it) collect her thoughts. "Not...not Sam Winchester."

Something on Sam's face changed. He was no longer cautious now, but confused. "Uh, yeah."

Stepping out from behind the glass, a frail girl showed herself, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. I lowered my gun almost instantly. She really _was _just a teenage girl. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about her, except for the certain 'careful' air around her. She was about Lily's height, with wavy auburn hair and a shallow face with sunken cheek bones. Her eyes were wide, darting between Sam and Dean, and then Lily, Ash and I, standing at the mouth of the stair case, having not moved. Her eyes narrowed slightly, although not out of suspicion, or accusation, but disbelief.

"If you're Sam, then that's Dean Winchester. And they're..." she trailed off, lifting a shaking hand to point to the rest of us. "They're Mira Willums, Lily McDonald, and Ashley Elsberry!"

"It's Ash." I noticed that the usual annoyance that would be in her voice while correcting someone on her name was replaced with confusion, just like the rest of us.

I took a small step forward, my eye brows pulled together. "How...how do you know our names?"

Anna was done with us, apparently, as she was only looking at Dean now, walking towards him with her eyes wide and lips moving without speaking. Stopping just in front of him, she swallowed. "You really are Dean. _The _Dean. The angels talk about you, all of you, but especially _you_. Castiel raised you from hell, and soem of the angels think you'll save us while others don't like you at all." She paused her quick, jumbled rant to look up at his face, almost in awe. "I feel like I know you."

Someone, Lily I guessed, coughed, and Anna's eyes flickered towards her.

"Wait, wait." Ash's shoulders dropped, and I could see the stern look in her face faltering. "You can hear angels?"

Anna shrugged. "They talk, and I just sort of over hear them. There's so many voices. It's hard to block them out."

Dean walked back over to where we stood, eying Anna suspiciously. "And you hear them all the time?"

"Not every second, but most of the time."

"So they lock you up with a case of crazies when really, you're just tuning into angel radio?"

A look crossed Anna's face, something that made her wide eyes grow even wider, although not out of shock. I think it was more out of relief, because when she spoke, she sounded as if she'd just been relieved of something heavy. "Yes...thank you."

"Anna," Sam said, bringing her attention back to him. "When did the voices start? Do you remember?"

"I can tell you exactly. September 18th."

No one said anything, and for good reason too.

"September...of this year?" I clarified, and when Anna nodded quickly, surely, Dean sighed.

"The day I got out of hell."

Anna continued, moving closer to Dean than I'm sure he or Lily would have liked. "The first words I heard, clear as a bell: Dean Winchester is saved."

I watched as Dean's eye brows rose, and then pulled together, which meant he was thinking something over in depth. Beside me, Lily gave him a grim look. "Well, now we know why the demons want her so bad. If they got a hold of her, they could over hear everything, have their own personal angel-radio."

I hoped I wasn't the only one who immediately thought of Ruby's involvment in this, and saw that something wasn't adding up. It was just so simple, and right there in front of us; she was a demon, and demons wanted Anna. Why else was she taking such an interest in this case? Surely it wasn't the same reasons we had.

"Hey," Anna suddenly said, looking at all of us in the face eagerly. "Do you know if my parents are okay? I didn't go home, and I'm afraid-"

Before any of us could speak, there was the sound of foot steps on the stairs, and Ruby was suddenly stampeding up them, pushing through Lily and I to stand in the midle of the room. "You got the girl?" She spotted Anna, and then reached for her. "Good. Let's go."

Anna recoiled from her, looking horrified. "Oh! Her face!"

Ash snickered. "Ugly, I know."

"We can fight later, girl." Ruby glowered at her before turning her gaze onto Sam. "There's a pretty powerful demon on his way here, so we gotta go."

My eyes narrowed instantly, but it was Dean who spoke.

"Well that's pretty convienent, showing up right when we find the girl with some pig on your tail!" he had a pinched expression, and when Ruby sighed dramatically, his face changed to that of anger, which I was feeling as well.

"_I _didn't bring him here! You did."

"What?"

"He followed you from the girl's house, alright? Can we go?"

As annoyed as I was, I noticed something to the left of Ruby, something that drew my attention away from her momentairily. It was a statue of the Virgin Mary, standing alone beneath dusty raptors. But this wasn't what was out of the ordinary. It was the fact that this statue was crying a long, crimson tear of blood down it's cheeck that made a cold shiver run up and down my spine. That can't be good.

"Lily." I whispered, nudging her and motioning at the statue. She gasped when she saw it, thus causing the others to notice it as well.

Ruby spoke quietly, sounding oddly calm. "It's too late. He's here."

As soon as she finished, Dean and Lily began ushering Anna across the length of the room, obviously looking for a safe place to hide her. The window pane was out of the question, and so they finally settled on a closet on the far end of the wall.

"Stay in there." Dean hurriedly instructed as he closed the door. "Don't move!"

Ruby looked to Sam, and then gave him a knowing nod. "You've got to pull him."

Pull him? She didn't mean-

The door to the stair case suddenly flew open, slamming against the wall behind it with such force that small bits of wood scattered onto the floor. There, standing on the top stair, was an older man, with short hair and a hard look on his face. When he caught sight of us all in a row in front of him, his lips turned up into a grin, and he started towards us.

"Sam." Ruby whispered, her eyes set on the approaching man. "Now."

Without waiting, Sam brought up his hand, and his face contorted into pain as he focused all of his energy on the demon.

I inhaled sharply, and bit my tongue, forcing back the comment that threatened to explode out of my mouth. I knew for a fact that the angels did not want Sam using his powers. Uriel had told him to his face. So how come he was chosing to listen to a demon, something he hunted on a regular basis, rather than angels, who were only trying to help him? This wasn't the Sam I knew, and it was frightening me to watch him behave that way.

The demon merely let out a chilling laugh at Sam's attempts, and continued forward. "That tickles."

Oh no.

Slowly, Sam let his hand fall against his side, his face a mixture of confusion and fear.

"You don't have the juice to take me on." the demon continued, and without warning, he curled his hand into a fist, and jerked it backwards.

The movement sent Sam flying towards the opposite wall as if something had physically grabbed him, and he knocked into some of the support beam's, landing in a crumpled heap on the ground. Acting on instinct, I brought my gun up, and fired a few shots at the demon, wondering at the same time who had Ruby's knife and why the hell weren't they attacking the damn thing with it.

The demon's eyes flickered to me. He looked amused, and clucked his tongue with a shake of his head. "Little girls shouldn't play with guns."

I felt something, almost like a rope, pulling me forwards, all the pressure coming from the middle of my stomach as I flew threw the air, and crashed through the banister of the stairs. My back screamed in pain, as well as my head, and I toppled down about a flight before finally stopping against a wall, feeling blood trickling over my eyes.

"Mira!" Sam cried, and I heard him running over to me as quickly as he could manage with his own injuries. Ruby hissed for him to just leave me, but Sam ignored her, and hurried down the stairs to my side. I couldn't see anything as he gripped my upper arm, and helped me to my feet, his other hand reaching around to support my back. I cried out when he touched a sensitive spot.

I blinked through the blood blurring my vision, just barely able to see Dean stabbing the demon with Ruby's knife. As Sam slowly began leading me away from the scene, I felt relieved, knowing the knife would do it's job. Or at least, that's what it was supposed to be doing. But when I looked back, the demon was snickering, and pulling out the knife without so much as flinching in pain.

"You're going to have to try harder than that, Dean." He murmured darkly, waving the knife in the way with a raised eye brow. "Don't you recognize me? Oh right, I'm wearing a pediatrician. But we were so close in Hell."

Hell?

I looked to Dean again, and was just able to see his eyes darkening before they narrowed into accusatory slits. He uttered one word, a name, but it had such venom in it that he might as well had been smiting the demon. "Alastair."

It must have meant something awful, who this demon was, because once his name was said, Ruby ran to the closet, and hurriedly pulled anna out, using Dean's distraction of talking with the demon to get Anna away. As soon as they were gone, I saw Sam's head whipping around the room as we stood there, no doubt looking for a quick exit.

The stairs were our best bet.

Turning us both around carefully, Sam balanced most of my weight in his arms as he gently lowered us down, one step at a time. Although I knew we should have been hurrying, considering the demon who was just feet behind us, I could find it in myself to go any faster than turtle speed. Every inch of me was on fire, screaming with each step, despite the fact that I was hardley moving at all.

"What about the others?" I grunted.

Sam stopped at the bottom of the stairs without answering me, and looked at the church doors that were currently closed. I was getting ready to suggest he lean me up against the wall, when he suddenly kicked out his foot, forcing the doors open. Afternoon sunlight poured into the tiny church space, and I squinted, trying to sheild my face frmo the harsh glare. Sam continued pulling me outside, and I heard a very loud smash as we reached the Impala.

"What was that?" I asked, cringing as I twisted my back slightly, trying to see.

This time, Sam didn't have to answer. because as soon as I turned, I saw three figures, descending from the top floor of the church through the window, glass raining around them. I gasped when I realised that it was Dean, Lily, and Ash. Had they gone mad?

"Are you okay, Mira?" Sam asked, focusing my attention on him rather than my three friends, plummeting from the top of a church. "He threw you down those stairs pretty hard."

I felt his hand on the small of my back, and when his fingers gave slight pressure, I arched, and squeeze my eyes shut. Fantastic. How was I supposed to hunt like this? "That's not good." Sam sighed, pulling his hand away to lean it against the Impala door between us, and peer at my face closely. His eyes searched for any cuts, or bruises, but I focused my gaze on the crease between his eye brows that I noticed appeared whenever he was worried. It made him look so...caring. I felt myself melting right there.

"We gotta go." Dean grunted, suddenly coming up to the Impala with one arm supporting Ash, and the other supporting Lily. They were all limping, and looked like they'd been to hell and back, covered in long red cuts on their exposed skin.

"Did you seriously jump through a window?" I asked Ash, as she broke from Dean and relieved me from Sam, helping me towards our van.

"Well, we didn't all have someone practically carrying us down the stairs, did we, Mira?"

She didn't exactly sound annoyed, just tired, and probably sore. So rather than bother her further, I shut my mouth, and climbed into the middle seat of the van, ignoring the scream of protest my back gave in the process. Although Ash looked much worse than Lily, she was the one who took the wheel, and Lily slipped in beside me, her cheeks unually flushed.

As Ash followed the Imapala out of the church parking lot, I looked to Lily. "Why...why aren't you as bad as Ash? I mean, you guys both jumped through the same window, right?"

"Oh." Lily's cheeks coloured darker, and she turned her face towards the window, trying to hide them and the slight smile that had appeared on her lips. "Well, uh...Dean grabbed me, and when he jumped,he kind of shielded my fall. He took the brunt of it."

Ash snorted. "Lucky you." as she turned to toss Lily an annoyed look, she caught sight of my back, and then her eyes widened. "Oh shit, Mira! Your back!"

I didn't have to look to know that I had long, no doubt deep scrapes across the length of my back. I'd hit those stairs pretty hard, and when they'd broken aruond me, a few were bound to catch me. Settling into my seat, I closed my eyes, and tried focusing on the sound of the Impala's engine ahead of us, rather than burning sensation that flamed on my back. I could only really wonder one thing; if we hadn't have been able to go down the stairs, would Sam have sheilded my fall too, like Dean did with Lily?

Something told me that yes, yes he would have.

* * *

><p>Back at the hotel, we came into Dean and Sam's room to see that they'd already begun setting up their make-shift medial center, complete with a simple first-aid kit. I suppose that was better than nothing. Besides, there wasn't ever really going to be a chance to get to the hospital at that point, considering that we now had a demon who was immune to both Sam's powers <em>and <em>Ruby's knife, hot on our heels. We had to move fast, and then go find where ever Ruby went with Anna.

"Come here, Mira." Sam murmured, looking down at the gauze he was unwrapping from the first-aid kit.

I looked at Lily and Ash briefly, but they were both preoccupied with their own injuries. So swallowing the nervous ache in my chest, I shuffled over to where Sam sat on his bed, and perched myself on the corner, my back to him. For a few moments, nothing happened, and all I could hear was the sound of packages being torn open, and Ash hissing through her teeth as she put rubbing alcohol on her cuts. And then, Sam was lifting up the back of my shirt, exposing my bare skin to him. Admittedly, I jumped, especially when I felt him putting on the disinfectant.

The ten minutes it took for him to clean me up were, quite possibly, the longest of my life.

When he finished, I rolled my shirt back down, my cheeks resembling Lily's with the heated blush blossoming across the skin. Without looking at Sam, I crossed the room, and began fiddling with hand gun I'd brought with me, removing the cartridge and then shoving it back in again to busy myself.

Dean suddenly groaned, and pushed himself off his own bed to limp over to where Sam remained on his, patching up a gash on his arm. "Would you hurry up please? This disloated shoulder hurts like a sonofabitch." I noticed him holding his arm then, and saw how limp it looked in terms of where it rested near it's socket. I'd never had a dislocated shoulder myself, but Ash had, and I'd been informed on mutliple occaions on just how much they hurt.

It was probably from recalling this herself that caused Ash to push off the wall she'd been leaning on, and walking over to Dean, quickly grabbing his shoulder and the side of his neck. I cringed when she pushed, and a popping sound rang out through the hotel room as his bone went into place.

"Dammit it, Ash!" he cursed, stumbling from the sudden movement and then whipping his head around to glare at her. "Give me some warning next time!"

She walked back to where she'd been standing, looking pleased with herself. "Well, you're welcome."

As Dean rubbed at his shoulder, glowing after her, Lily sighed, and said the question we were all thinking. "So, where is Anna now?" She lowered herself onto Dean's bed, rubbing her pant legs anxiously. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the fact Ruby just took off with her."

As if he had forgotten, Dean's head snapped up. "You're right! I forgot demon-bitch snagged her! Probably right to the other demons." He rubbed at his eyes, and then let his hand drop, revealing his angered expression. "Great."

"You're using my name for her!" Ash grinned, and then held up her hand, obviously searching for a high five. Dean gave her a look that said he was mad about the shoulder-thing, and slowly, Ash lowered her hand, averting her gaze awkwardly. "Uh, anyway..."

"Guys." Sam suddenly stood up, holding his hands in front of him in a pleading gesture. "Trust me. Anna is fine. Ruby brought her to safety... she just hasn't contacted us because that demon guy would be able to find us."

I shifted from foot to foot, avoiding his gaze so he wouldn't see how doubtful I looked. When no one spoke again, Lily sighed, and then gave me a slight nudge. "Let's go back to the room and get a bit of sleep, okay? You guys call us if we have to leave, or if something happens."

Just as I moved to follow her out the door, eager to rest and see if my back would feel better in the morning, Dean spoke.

"Wait. Lily, come here for a second."

She tossed me a confused look, and when Dean repeated himself, she moved past me and Ash, and walked over to where he sat, passing on the confused expression to him. "Dean, I want to get back and sleep. I've kind of had a long day, you know, jumping out a wind-"

Without any warning whatsoever, Dean suddenly grabbed her hands and pulled her towards him, standing up to steal a quick kiss.

Although I know Ash and I were both rooted to the spot, shocked, Lily was quick to blush furiously, and bit her lower lip, hurrying away from Dean before he could see just how flustered she had become. As she moved past Ash and I to run into the hallway, there was no hiding the wide smile that had spread across her face.

"Well." Ash said, and then didn't finish, turning to look at Dean as she brought two fingers up to hers, then turning them onto him with a challenging stare.

I followed her out into the hallway after quickly waving good-night at Sam. They must have thought I'd already shut the door fully, because just as I was pulling it to meet the frame, I heard Dean speak suddenly from inside. "So Sammy," he said, and then my cheeks flamed at his next words. "When are you going to try that on Mira?"

* * *

><p>We'd only been in our room alone for about forty minutes before Ash's phone rang, and it was Dean, hurriedly telling her that we needed to get out of that room fast; demons were surrounding the hotel. Ash was quick to pass on the message despite how groggy she had been when grabbing for her cell, and she ran around the room, picking up everything in sight that belonged to us. I'd never seen her move so quickly, but I suppose considering the cicumstances, this wasn't exactly the time to pretend she was going to start acting this way on a regular basis.<p>

Once we were all dressed and ready, I realised that the door was not an option. Demons were probably outside there that very moment.

"Looks like we're hopping out the window again." Ash sighed, swinging the duffel bag up onto her shoulder and then rushing over to pull up the glass, and let in the crisp midnight air. "Who's first?"

It was a hard climb down the fire escape, thanks to the fact that my back was still searing in pain, but we all made it to the parking lot safe, and met up with Sam and Dean, who'd been making their way over to the Impala.

"Dude, we can't take the car." Sam grabbed onto Dean's arm as he was reaching in his pocket for his keys. "They'll hear it."

"Well what do you suggest we do? We sure as hell aren't walking."

"It's just a ways into the woods. You'll survive."

It wasn't that long of a walk, as Sam had predicted, but I couldn't stop looking over my shoulder, feeling as if we were being following. Evidently, Ash was feeling the same; as we cut through the thick brush, I noticed her hand hovering over her waist band, where her knife was nestled, ready to be brought out at a moment's notice. I just hoped that wouldn't happen. None of us were in the best shape for a surprise attack.

When we broke through the thick brush of the forest, I was surprised to see a pleasent looking cabin, sitting in the middle of a large clearing. I could tell that everyone was a little surprised with the warm demeanor, and as we made our way towards the cabin, I felt slightly bad for underestimating Ruby. But only slightly. There was still much piled against her that cut away from the guilt. It was more of a quick pinch of remorse more than anything, and then it was gone again, as soon as we stepped inside of the cabin.

It wasn't because Ruby was doing anything, though. It was because...well, Ruby was there.

I knew she would be. If her story was true, and she really did want to help us, leaving Anna alone wouldn't be the smartest idea. Still, seeing her there, and seeing how Sam immediately broke from us to rush over to her, despite the fact that she was busy speaking with Anna, was enough to make my eyes narrow and arms cross tightly over my chest.

"This demon is not like the others." Anna looked up at us with those wide eyes of hers, and she gave a slight smile. "She saved my life."

Dean didn't look impressed. "I hear she does that." With much reluctance, he turned towards Ruby, and awkwardly stood with his arms at his sides, seeming like this was the last thing he wanted to do. "I...I guess I owe you an apology. And thanks." It was as if the gesture was physically paining him; his forehead creased and it took much effort to say the right words.

Ruby nodded curtly at him, all buisness, and then tossed an expectant gaze at Ash, who just snorted.

"Oh yes, you're a Saint. I don't care if you've helped save us. You're a demon. You're a bitch."

Standing up from the crouching position she had been in, Ruby rolled her eyes. "You're wrong about me. You'll see." She turned away from Ash, and looked to the boys, holding out her hand. "Now, where's the knife?"

Dean's eyes widened, and then relaxed. "Uh..."

I didn't listen as Ruby chewed him out, because Anna had suddenly turned towards Sam and I, the closest to her, and gave us an eager gaze. "Can I call my parents?" something inside of my tugged, and I felt my throat closing, and the smile I'd been wearing up to that point falling from my face. Oh no. I'd completely forgotten... "They must be so freaked out." she continued, looking between Sam and I with that same, eager face, completely oblivious to what had occured.

I looked to Sam, and was surprised to see him doing the same to me. Obviously, he was going to need some help on this, just from the pleading expression he wore.

"Anna," I said, bending down to be eye-level with where she sat, propped up against one of the walls of the cabin. And then I stopped. Because despite the fact that I had gone through exactly what she had, and worse, I didn't have the heart to have to inform that we were now in the same boat. She was so young. It wasn't fair to have to lay something like this on her.

Sam cleared his throat, and I felt his hand on my shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "I got it, Mira. It's okay."

So in the end, Lily and I stood quietly beside Anna as she heard the news, offering support whenever we could. She didn't say much, actually, which surprised me. I thought she'd have more questions, but all she did was chorus "No, no it can't be!" and sob quietly into the sleeve of her jacket. It was then, just as Sam finished, that both Anna and Ash suddenly jerked their heads towards the door with wide eyes, as if having heard something than none of the rest of us could.

"They're coming." Anna said, her voice trembling.

Dean looked between her and Ash, who remained staring at the door with hard eyes. "What's coming? Demons?"

Sam was on his feet, helping Anna into the back room of the cabin while the rest of us readied ourselves in front of the door for...whatever was coming. Ash waited until we were all lined up to finally speak, sounding both confused and slightly peeved. "No. Angels. Castiel and...and Uriel. I think. I'm not sure."

She hadn't even finished saying Uriel's name before they had appeared, not through the doors as we had expected, but out of the thin air behind us.

I spun around, as did everyone else at the sudden appearence, and narrowed my eyes. Castiel I still wasn't sure about, but I was positive on how I felt about Uriel. Angel or not, he wasn't someone I was terribly pleased to see standing in front of me.

Dean seemed to be sharing the same sentiments. "I sure hope you guys are here to help." his eyes were narrowed into suspicious slits, to which Uriel ignored, having noticed Ruby standing on the other side of Sam.

"Please explain this...stain in the room." he sneered, and when Ruby remained unmoved, he turned his attention back to Dean. "Give us the girl."

I swallowed tightly, and spoke before anyone else could. "Are you going to help her?"

For a moment, just a brief moment, Castiel looked ashamed to be there, or to be standing beside a man like Uriel. But just as quickly as that moment of shame had come, it was gone, replaced with an expressionless slate on his face. "No." He said, his voice brazen. "She has to die."


	24. Twenty Four Mira

24. Mira

No one spoke. It was as if the air in the small cabin had instantly tightened, and everyone was afraid to open their mouthes, like they were reluctant to use of what was left of it. I, myself, remained off to the side of the action, my eyes wide and brain working quickly. The angles wanted to kill Anna? They were _angels_! Well, I ammended, I have seen them act this way before, when they threatened to kill a whole town because of one witch. This sort of behaviour wasn't new, just shocking.

"Whoa, hold on." Dean suddenly spoke up, and moved to step in front of Anna slightly. "You want to kill her because she wiretapped some angel conversations?"

Uriel's face showed no remorse. "Don't worry. I'll kill her gently. Now, out of the way."

I felt my throat closing as I remembered Ash coming home the night she had met Castiel, and telling Lily and I that no weapons had worked on him. Despite this, I readied my gun at my side anyway, and when I pulled back the safety, Uriel's eyes shifted at the sound it made.

Dean moved so his attention flew away from me, back to him. "You are some heartless sons of bitches, you know that?"

"As a matter of fact," Castiel was suddenly speaking, and I think everyone was surprised to hear from him, "we are. And?"

There was cold edge to hsi voice, something I hadn't heard come from his mouth. To my left, I just caught Ash out of the corner of my eye as she shifted her stance slightly. She seemed odd, but I couldn't tell what it was about her that felt out of place. There was something, though, and it caused me to summon some unknown courage from deep inside of me, and look Uriel square in the eye.

"Anna is an innocent girl! You can't just kill her!"

I was growing less and less fond of the visits from the angels. Everytime they were around us, I liked them less and less. They were just so cold, so dark and so hateful towards the innocent. I could barely comprehend how someone could live a life like that. These angels were such frozen people, and, no doubt, lonely. Could that be what made them the way they are?

"She's not in any means of the word _innocent_." Uriel purred darkly, advancing forward.

I took an automatic step backwards, and found myself beside Ruby.

It was Sam who narrowed his eyes, curious as to what that satement was implying. "What do you mean?"

Uriel gave a disgusted twitch of his lips before zeoring his gaze on Sam, and speaking in a cold, deep voice, "I mean, she's worse than that abomination you've been screwing." That was all it took. In that single, split second instant, my heart sank. No, actually, sank isn't the right adjective to be used here. It was as if someone had taken my heart, and compressed it to a tenth of it's normal size before poking and prodding at it. I literally felt sick to my stomach, and it took everything in me not to let the stinging in the back of my eyes develop into something worse. Crying in front of Sam, and especially in front of Ruby was out of the question. But how could I not?

There was the truth; Sam and Ruby were in a relationship, and had sex.

I felt the room's gazes shift dramatically, all landing on me. Ash, who was closest to me, gave a small hiss through her teeth, and rubbed at her eyes, torn between hatred towards Ruby and sympathy for my broken heart. Inhaling deeply, I pushed back my shoulders, determined not to let them see just how broken the rest of me was, too. I kept my gaze strong on Uriel, despite the fact that my throat was so tight I couldn't even speak if I wanted to.

And Ruby. Oh God, Ruby.

She was right there, right beside me, still standing straight with all her dignity. There was no emotion on her face, but she did look momentarily surprised at Uriel's choice of words, before composing her expression into a calm hatred. I don't know if it was because she was acting so nonchalant, but I was positive that if the demon killing knife was in my possesion, I would have stabbed her. She was so close. I could have done it quickly, too, just a brief swipe of my hand against her back, as if I were just touching her jacket for a moment. No one would have noticed until she crumbled to the ground.

But I had bigger problems that needing focusing on.

"Now give us the girl." Uriel took another step forward.

Dean and Sam exchanged unreadable glances before he turned his attention on the approaching angel, and shrugged. "Sorry. Get yourself another one." a smirk pulled back on his lips. "Try EHarmony."

"Who's going to stop us? You monkey children or the demon whore?"

Without warning, he was suddenly standing in front of Ruby and I, but it was she that he reached for, and threw across the room. I didn't follow her flight, but I heard her landing, right through the window of the cabin. As glass rained around my feet, I swallowed tightly, and brought my gun closer to my side, dragging it up slowly underneath my jacket to keep it hidden.

Lily, who had taken an automatic step forward, was the next victim, being tossed into the opposite wall with such brutal force, I heard a crack in the wood panelling as her back made contact with it. Dean made a run for Uriel, but I was quick to put my arm up and block him as I took a shot at the angel.

Uriel stopped his actions, but only for a moment to examine his chest where the bullet had sank in. "Pathetic." He spat, and then I, too, was hurled backward for the second time in the last twenty-four hours. Struggling to sit up while my freshly wounded back screamed, I caught sight of Castiel advancing on Sam, his hand raised.

"No-" I tried, but my voice came out a shallow gasp from the pain I was expiriencing, just from breathing. I prayed I hadn't cracked a rib.

Sam backed away from Sam, his eye brows knitted together in worry. "Cas, stop, please-"

And just like that, Castiel pressed his forefinger and middle finger against Sam's temple, and his knees buckled. At that point, I was grabbing on to the closest, solid piece of furniture I could find, trying desperately to get back on my feet and help Dean, who was taking the brunt of Uriel's wrath. Ash came out from nowhere, and brought her fist into Uriel's face. Without even flinching, or taking his hand off of Dean's collar, he turned and pushed his hand towards her, sending Ash spiraling through the air, and into the wall beside me.

"You okay?" I asked, watching as she groaned and sat up.

"Peachy, Mira, just peachy."

Uriel was suddenly speaking, his voice harsh and louder than any other sound occuring in the room. "I have been waiting for this."

He proceded to beat up Dean, every punch harder and delievered quicker than the last. I couldn't stand watching it, and as I finally managed to get on my feet, Ash was already standing, her gun pointed directly at...Castiel?

I hadn't noticed him advancing on us, and as soon as I did, Ash cocked her gun, and narrowed her eyes, although I noticed her hands were trembling slightly. "Don't make me shoot." she hissed, as Castiel grew even closer. He seemed remorseful, although he didn't cease his movements.

"Ashley," he tried reasoning with her calmly, "Anna is a traitor to heaven. Please, step aside."

He was slowly bringing up his hand as he spoke, and to my utter surprise, Ash didn't make a move to shoot him, or fight him off. Stealing one last desperate look at bloody Dean, she squeezed her eyes shut, and waited to be knocked unconscious.

But it never happened.

As soon as Castiel's fingers were about to make contact with her forehead, there was bright flashes, like lightening bolts crashing in the air of the cabin, and then suddenly, both he and Uriel were gone. I blinked at where he'd been standing, and the empty space that now remained, and felt even more confused than before.

"What the...?" Ash looked around, searching for Castiel, no doubt.

Sam, who until that moment had remained sprawled on the floor, roused from his unconscious state, and then sat up quickly. Before Ruby could, I rushed over to his side, bracing my hand on his arm and back, and helping him to his feet. He weighed more than I had expected, and I struggled slightly, but once he was standing, he was fine, and I reluctantly let go of him.

From the back room, Anna slowly emerged, trembling slightly with her bloody arms outstretched.

Crouched beside Lily, Dean didn't notice until she was standing right beside him. "Anna?" He looked alarmed at the state she was in, and then he coughed, and squinted at something beyond her. "Did...did you kill them?"

I didn't understand why he had asked until I followed his gaze, and saw that the mirror in the back room continaed some sort of sigil on it, written in Anna's blood.

"No." She whispered. "I just sent them away; far, far away."

I shared a look with Ash, who was seeming just as shocked and confused as I was. "How did you do that?" She asked, and I was more surprised to hear the dge on her voice, as if she were annoyed at Anna's actions. Or, I concluded after a moment's thought, she was jealous. I knew what she could do when it came to Angels; she could hear their voices when they spoke. But I knew for sure that she could not just send Angels flying to _wherever _like Anna just did, and I could just bet that it was annoying the hell out of her.

"I don't know." Anna whispered, looking down at her crimson arms with wide eyes. "It just sort of popped into my head."

By then, Dean wasn't the only one with a suspicious look. Who was this girl? Or better yet, _what _was this girl?

* * *

><p>Later that night, when Anna and Lily were asleep, and Ruby had disappeared off to who-knows-where, I pulled Ash outside the cabin where Dean and Sam were. It was our best chance to talk about Anna, and I decided to take it.<p>

"She's looking pretty suspicious." Sam noted, looking past us into the hotel room, where Anna lay asleep on the couch with her jacket pulled over her body. "That sigil is some serious stuff. Maybe being an angel wire-tap isn't the only reason she's wanted."

Ash was nodding. "Castiel said she was a traitor of heaven. do you think she could be bad?"

"No," I said, picking my words carefully. "I don't think she's bad. Those were genuine tears earlier, when she found out about her parents."

"I don't know. It's all very strange."

Dean, who had been staring out at the dark forest with a thoughtful expression, suddenly turned around, and spoke with a low voice. "Look, she may be able to send the angels away, but sooner or later, they'll be back, and the demons too." He sighed, and crossed his arms over his chest with a shrug of his shoulders. "We should get her somewhere safe before we try and get information from her."

* * *

><p>The next morning, it was decided that we were to go to Bobby's, since he had that safe room that would keep us hiden for at least a while. Lily figured that the angels and demons would assume Anna was being transported in the Impala, and so they would naturally attack the Impala first if we were highjacked along the way. So, Anna went with us in our van, while Ruby rode with Sam and Dean.<p>

For the most part of the ride to South Dakota, Anna was asleep, but just as were crossing state lines, I heard her rousing, and then sudenly, she was sitting up in the back of the van, mumbling to herself. I turned to look at her over my shoulder. Ash, who had taken post in the back with her, was speaking to Anna with a neutral tone. "Good morning."

Anna looked at Ash for a moment, and then her eyes roamed over the contents of the van, seeming confused. "Where am I?"

"In our van." Lily answered without taking her eyes of the road as she drove. "We're taking you somewhere safe."

"Thank you, Lily." She sounded oddly sincere, and I felt guilty for questioning her innocence the night before.

Ash nudged Anna, and her attention moved away from Lily. "So, you can hear Angel's true voices, huh?"

"Yes. They're speaking now." Anna nodded slowly, and then her head tilted in a curious manner. "But from what I understand, you've heard them too."

For a moment, Ash just stared at her, her mouth moving and eyes wide. And then, she was speaking quickly. "But...who told...how do you know that? Do they talk about me? I mean, do they usuall mention me when they talk?" she was practically on the edge of her seat, leaning intently towards Anna who did not move away, merely starign back at her with a calm expression.

"They do, they talk about all of you." Anna looked to me quickly, still turned around in my seat. "They talk about your involvment in the plan...and the Winchester's." She moved so that she was sitting on her knees, and then she gently closed her eyes, growing quiet as she, I guessed, listened in on yet another angel conversation.

Although Ash seemed generally pleased that the angels were taking about her, I was feel uncomfortable, almost as if I'd just found out every teacher at school had been gossiping about me behind my back. I exchanged a confused look with Lily, who evidently also was not thrilled; she turned quite pale before tightening her grip on the wheel, and chewing on her lower lip thoughtfully.

"Huh." Ash frowned to herself. "Well, I can't hear them like you can. I mean, you hear them all the time. But I'd like to, or atleast be able to choose when I could. The voices, you know, they're just so..." It was as if no words were able to describe what she had heard that day in the hotel. I remembered her trying to explain what it had sounded like to us, and being unbale to put a coherent description together.

Anna, though, was nodding. "Yes." she murmured. "Absolutely unreal."

No one spoke after that, and as Lily continued driving behind the Impala, I wondered if it would stay like that all the way to Bobby's house. But, sure enough, a few minutes later, Anna was suddenly speaking. "You know Ash, you have angel blood in you."

I whipped around in my seat, unable to believe what I'd just heard.

"Wait, what?" Ash exclaimed, keeping a shifty eye on Anna.

"Well," Anna ammended, "not enough to make you anything more than human, of course. You are, and always will be human. Nothing more. But you have a very, very small sliver of angel ancestry." She sounded eerily calm as she passed on this news, her eyes remaining shut and face expressionless. "Before ti was outlawed, a group of angels came down to Earth and had children with humans. Although not many of these children survived, and that kind of itneraction was soon after outlawed, some did survive, like your ancestor. Or," she shrugged, opening her eyes again. "That's what they speak of, anyway."

I was shocked into silence. Ash had...angel blood in her? How...why...what?

As lost for words as I was, Ash on the other hand merely blinked, as if some question of hers had just been answered. "Huh." she murmured, turning away from Anna to look at the floor of the van. "How about that."

* * *

><p>"I cannot believe I can't come in. I consider this racist, you know."<p>

From the door of Bobby's panic room, Ruby stood just a breath away from the threashold with an annoyed look, eying the iron walls that were, as Dean put it, "drenched in salt". I relaxed into the cot set up against the far wall, and crossed my arms over my chest, trying not to let it show just how smug and pleased I was with this new arrangement. Although the door wasn't going to be closed anytime soon, at least Ruby wasn't inside with us.

Dean gave her a bored roll of his eyes. "Write your congressman."

Sighing, Ruby reached into her jacket pockets, and brought out a handful of hex bags, which she tossed to each of us individually. "Here." She said as I caught mine, and turned it around in my hands cautiously, trying to feel what was hidden inside of it. I hoped not more baby bones, like in the las thex bags we'd dealt with. The thought made my stomach churn.

"Hex bags?" Dean asked with a raised eye brow.

"Extra crunchy. They'll hide you from demons, angels, all corners."

Ash returned to the room then, a beer in each hand. She tossed one to Dean before taking a seat on the cot beside me, and taking a long swig from her own drink before noticing Ruby's outstreched hand, and the hex bag that it contained. She gave the demon a suspicious stare.

"Take it." Ruby said, giving the bag a small shake.

"Uh, no thanks." Ash laughed shortly before turning away from Ruby all together, and taking another drink of her beer. Swallowing, she pointed the bottle at her. "If you think I'm stupid enough to take a _hex bag_, which have almost killed me before, from a _demon_, then you are clearly misjudging me."

Ruby's stare darkened immensely. "Look _Ash_," she spat her name, and then continued, "I don't want to do this either. I could care less, actually. But this isn't just about you. If you don't take this, you're endangering yourself and everyone else here. So stop trying to be a goddamn hard ass and take it." When Ash didn't move, she gave a dramatic groan, and then undid the string, opening the bag to show the contents inside.

Glancing at it briefly, Ash pulled back and shook her head, bringing her bottle to her lips again. "I still don't trust your intentions, demon bitch."

Dean intervened, stepping in front of her line of view to Ruby so she wouldn't be distracted. "Ash, be reasonable. She's saved both mine and Sammy's lives, and at this point, we kind of have to trust her. So do me a favour and take the bag."

Ash groaned, but snatched the bag from Ruby's hand anyway, looking irritably reluctant in doing so. "Whatever. But if my lungs start splitting open again like last time, you-" she pointed to Ruby threatingly, "are _dead_."

Ruby scowled, but said nothing.

I got up off of the cot, and walked over to where Anna was lounging in Bobby's desk chair, looking thoughtful. "Hey." I said, and she looked up at me as I crouched down beside her. "How are you doing? Do you hear anything?"

"It's all very quiet." She whispered. "It kind of frightens me."

Someone tapped on my shoulder. When I looked to see who it was, Sam was nodding towards the door of the room. "Can you come over here for a second, Mira? I need to talk to you."

I hesitated, wondering if I should stay with Anna instead and find out if she could hear anything useful. But after a moment of debating, I nodded, and stood up, telling Anna that I would be right back before following Sam out of the panic room. We were met with Dean, Lily and Ash, who were all hovvering on the steps leading up to Bobby's main floor.

Ruby, happy to be with us again, made a move to head up the stairs, but Dean caught onto her arm.

"No, you stay here."

She turned on him angirly. "Why?"

"Someone needs to watch Anna."

"What good am I going to be if I can't even go into the room?"

Dean narrowed his eyes, and gave her a slight nudge back down the step she'd begun advancing up on. "Just keep an eye on her. If she tries to leave, make sure she doesn't."

Without waiting to hear any more of her complaints, Dean hurried up the stairs with Lily and Ash following. I looked at Sam to see that he was giving Ruby a sympathetic look. "Sorry." he hurriedly apologized, before running after his brother. When it was just Ruby and I, I swallowed tightly, gave her an awkward nod, and then continued up the stairs.

At the top, Dean was already pacing, and as I met up with Sam, he turned and gave us an annoyed look. "Can this hurry? I don't like leaving that demon in charge of-"

"Dean." Sam interupted his brother, raising his hand to silence him. "Would you listen for a second? I was looking through Anna's folder, and it turns out that this isn't her first incident. Most of her life she's been normal, except for one episode when she was two years old." Seeing now that he had everyone's attention, Sam leaned against one of Bobby's couches, crossing his arms over his chest. "Anna had been covinced her father wasn't her real father, and that her real father was extremely angry at her."

Ash seemed confused. "What do you think she means, '_real father_'? Is she adopted or something?"

"No." Sam answered. "They're her parents."

Across the room, Dean was staring at the stairs, as if he were staring down them at Anna. "That's kind of heavy for a two year old."

I sighed, and pushed away from the staircase, shrugging my shoulders. "So, what's she hiding?"

"You tell me."

Spinning around, I was nearly knocked off my feet when Anna was suddenly standing behind me, her wide eyes searching mine in a confused manner. "Oh, you're up here now." I touched a hand to my neck, and slowly backed away from her. "I thought Ruby-"

"Great." Ash threw her hands up in the air. "Where'd that demon bitch go?"

"Ruby was supposed to be watching her." Dean hissed, looking just as angry as Ash was.

"I'm still watching her." Ruby came up beside Sam with an innocent shrug that made my teeth clench. "I'm just watching her upstairs now."

"Look," Anna directed the attention back to herself with a loud, shrill tone of voice. "I don't know why I can hear the angels or why my..." she swallowed before continuing, "parents are dead, or how I got in the middle of this. I don't know what I'm '_guilty_' of either. I wish none of this ever happened to me. Youv'e got to believe me."

She sounded so frightened, and that was when I remembered that she was only just a teenager. I gave her a sympathetic nod. "I believe you, Anna. We won't let the angels or demons, or anyone else for that matter, hurt you. You're safe with us."

Her hard gaze softened instantly. "Thank you." She whispered.

"Wait." Dean was suddenly straightening up, looking eager. "I think I know who can help you figure it out." And without telling any of us who it was he had in mind, he pulled out his cell phone, and began dialing. "Hello, Pamela?" he pressed it to his ear, and grinned at the rest of us as he spoke. "I'm good. Listen, I need a favour."

* * *

><p>While Dean was out fetching Pamela, the rest of us remained in the panic room, sitting in silence. I cast an anxious glance towards the door, where Sam was leaning against the frame, speaking in hushed tones with Ruby on the other side. Lily, who'd been lounging on the floor beside me, noticed this as well, and gave me a slight nudge.<p>

"You shouldn't have listened to anything Alistair said. Now you look paranoid all the time."

"I'm fine. Really." I tried to give her a reassuring smile, although I'm sure it came out more as a grimmace.

There was the sound of foot steps on the basement stairs, and I stood up just in time to see Dean descending down the last step. "We're here." he called out, before looking back up at the stairs as Pamela, the psychic, came carefully down them. She kept her hand on the wooden banister, guiding herself and refusing Dean's hand as he offered it.

"Let me do it, Deano. If I can't walk down a damn set of stairs by myself, what chance do I have doing anything else?"

Nice to see she still had that sharp edge to her.

As I watched them coming through the threshold of the panic room, I remembered the last time we'd seen Pamela. That was the day that Dean had suddenly come back from hell, and we'd been looking for an answer as to who it was that pulled him out. Bobby had suggested Pamela, and while we were at her house, she'd contacted Castiel, and had her eyes burned out by his true form. I noticed the dark sunglasses she wore now, and immediately felt my shoulders slumping. Well, there's another reason to dislike angels.

Pamela walked right past Ruby, who had been looming off to the side of the door since Dean's arrival, and continued into the room with a steady, straight forward pace. It was interesting to see how used she was to being blind, how she was careful not to go too fast, but also not to slow as to look like she was incapable to taking a few steps on her own. Sam retreated from his stance against the wall, and crossed in front of Pamela to get to where I was now standing. As he did this, Pamela suddenly stopped, her head swivelling from side to side.

"Sam? Sam is that you?"

Looking surprised, he turned around, but remained where he was beside me. "Er, yeah, it's me."

Pamela's face broke out in a grin. "It _is _you! Know how I know?"

Before Sam could answer, she'd suddenly reached out, and grabbed hold of his ass. I did a double take when she did this, unable to believe what I was seeing. I wasn't exactly jealous, since Sam jumped and moved away from Pamela as soon as she did it, but I was angry that an older lady had just decided to lay her hands all over Sam.

"It's because of your perky little ass." she crooned, grinning despite Sam's reaction. "You could bounce a nickel off that thing. Of course I know it's you grumpy, the same way I know she's a demon," her hand flew up towards Ruby, who had since moved to stand in the doorway, "that poor girl is Anna," now she was pointing at Anna, sitting perched carefully on the edge of the cot, "you're eying my rack, and your girlfriend beside you isn't exactly appreciating my actions."

My cheeks flamed as her head turned towards me, and her smile grew.

"Well," Ruby pipped up, giving me an icy stare. "She was _mostly _right."

Demon bitch.

Ignoring the awkward look Sam was casting me, I cleared my throat, and gently shook Pamela's hand. "Nice to see you again. I'm-"

"Mira Willums." She finished for me, nodding. "I remember you. And that's Lily McDonald and Ash Elsberry, your two ladies in waiting." she flashed another smile before shuffling away from us completely, and moving over to Anna, who was watching her with wide eyes. "Anna, how are you? I'm Pamela. Dean told me about your situation, and I'm happy to help."

"Oh." Anna whispered. "That's nice of you."

"Not really." Pamela shrugged her shoulders, and then straightened up away from Anna to sigh. "Any chance I get to dick over an angel, I'll take. One stole something from me." She hesitated before pulling her glasses off of her face, revealing two fake, glass eyes.

Ash, who'd been watching from the other side of the room while sipping a can of cola, (Lily and I had forbid her from alcohol) muttered something under her breath.

"I heard that Ashley." Pamela smiled smugly. "Now come on, let's start the hypnosis."

* * *

><p>In not time at all, Pamela had Anna laying down on the cot, her limbs loose and eyes shut. The rest of us gathered around her as Pamela sat on a stool beside the cot. Most of us were standing, while Ash preferred to sit off to the side against the wall, sipping her soda. She said it was because she was waiting until she finished it, but I could see her watching Ruby, how remained outside the panic room. Smiling to myself, I returned my attention to Anna.<p>

"Nice and relaxed." Pamela was murmuring gently, "Now, I'm going to count down from five to zero. When we're at zero, you'll be in a deep state of hypnosis. As I count down, just go deeper and deeper, okay? 5... 4... 3... 2... 1. Deep sleep. Deep sleep." She touched her hand to Anna's sleeve, and leaned forwards slightly. "Every muscle calm and relaxed. Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you." Anna answered.

"Now, Anna, tell me... How can you hear the angels? How did you work that spell?"

Hearing this question, I heard Ash sitting up slightly, obviously eager to hear the answer as well as the rest of us were. Even Dean, who had been leaning against the closest desk with a broed expression, was suddenly straightened up, peering around Lily to see better.

Anna hesitated, but only for a moment before answering in a calm tone. "I don't know. I just did."

"Your father. What's his name?"

"Rich Milton."

"Alright," Pamela ammended calmly. "But I want you to look further back, when you were very young. Just a couple of years old."

"I don't want to."

"It'll be okay, Anna; just one look. That's all we need."

Anna turned her head to the side, her chest beginning to heave small, shallow breaths. "No."

"What's your dad's name?"

"No...no no no no!"

"Calm down." I could tell that Pamela was getting uncomfortable with the more tense Anna became.

"He's going to kill me!"

At that point, Anna was thrashing against the cot, as if there were steel wrist locks, holding her down. She screamed, but kept her eyes closed the entire time, seeing something that the rest of us couldn't. I wanted so badly to help her, because she looked like she was expiriencing some sort of horrific nightmare. Dean, evidently, wanted to help as well. He stepped around Lily, and reached towards Anna.

"Dean!" Pamela exclaimed, sensing him beside her. "Don't-"

As soon as his fingers touched Anna, she screamed louder, grabbed hold of him, and literally threw him across the room, all while laying down on the cot. Lily rushed to go help him to his feet, and I turned back towards Pamela just in time to see her murmuring gently in Anna's ear, and then her eyes opening slowly, as if she'd just awoken.

The whole room was silent while Anna sat up, blinking calmly.

"Thank you, Pamela." She murmured, turning to look at the pyschic with a blank expression. "I remember everything now."

There was something chilling about her voice, like some sort of element that I'd never heard before, and instantly didn't like. In that moment, while she examined each face in the room, I began to back away, this different side of her scaring me slightly. Without meaning to, I backed right into Sam, who caught my shoulders, and then looked up at Anna with narrowed eyes.

"Remember what?"

She smiled at him. "I'm an angel."

The entire room stilled. No one spoke, not even Ruby, who usually had a word or two for everyone. All eyes were on Anna, who remained sitting upright in a stiff fashion as she stared at the rest of us. When no one made a move to break the silence, she spoke again, sounding oddly light, and airy; completely unlike her usual, trembling voice. "Don't be afraid." She said surely. "I'm not like the others."

Ruby, of course, was the first to respond. "I don't find that very reassuring."

For once, I actually agreed with her.

"Wait." Ash pushed off the wall she'd been leaning against, letting her empty soda can drop to the ground as she slowly walked towards Anna with narrowed eyes. "You? You're an Angel?" suddenly, she was shaking her head, stopping in the middle of the room to angirly cross her arms over her chest. "No, you're not. You definitely aren't. I don't believe it." Ash turned around to look at Lily and I, who'd remained frozen in place since the little announcement. "She's crazy."

Anna's calm gaze flickered towards her. "It's because I lost my grace." she said, and stood up to close the space between her and Ash until they were standing right in front of each other. "I fell from heaven. I ripped out my own grace, and I fell."

Ash looked more annoyed than intrigued, like the rest of us were.

"You fell?" I asked, stepping in front of Ash to look at Anna. "As in, you were cast out of heaven?"

As sad as it was for me to stay, -since I'd finally found someone I could relate to in terms of unfortunate events- I was really starting to like Anna less and less by the second. But, could you blame me? There were multiple of reasons as to why I should trust her at all, and they were all quite good reasons. First of all, she's an Angel. That in itself wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for recent events that have caused me to change my entire outlook on the Angel community, considering our run in with Uriel and Castiel a few days before.

The second reason I couldn't trust Anna was because she was an Angel banned from heaven. Despite how bad Uriel was, he was yet to be banned, so that meant, in a way, Anna must be worse than him. And that was scaring me to the point where I was backed right up against Sam again, and I reached behind me to grab hold of his hand, staring wide-eyed at Anna. It wasn't like I thought she was immediately going to smite us, but...well, yes, actually, I did think that.

Somewhere behind us, Ruby coughed forecefully twice, but I ignored her.

"You can do that?" Sam asked, and I felt him give my hand a reassuring squeeze back. "Just stop being an Angel, and forget you ever were?"

Anna looked to him, and nodded once. "Yes. But it hurts, like cutting your kidney out with a butter knife. And then you fall."

"Come again?" Dean frowned, obviously unclear on the term Anna used.

"My grace. It's...energy. I Hacked it out and fell." This was all sounding so gruesome to me, but Anna was smiling to herself, remembering something to herself. "My mother, Amy, couldn't get pregnant. She always called me her little miracle." Her eyes softened slightly for the first time since she'd 'waken up'. "She had no idea how right she was."

As the panic room's occupants fell silent again, the one person not inside spoke. "I don't think you realise how screwed we are." She snapped, and when I turned around, I could tell her anger was entirely coming from the situation we were in, but rather the position Sam and I were in. I made no move to let go of his hand though, and instead returned my attention to Anna.

"Ruby's right." she said, her gaze returning to it's usual, expressionless form. "Heaven wants me dead."

Despite all the trust I'd lost towards Anna in the past ten minutes, I felt myself softening towards her. She'd changed, yes, and even though I didn't like the change, she _had _also lost her parents. I'm sure she must have loved and cared about them, just like I had with my own family. And she was in trouble. She needed our help. Ignoring my better judgement, I readied myself to agree with any plan Anna came up with, if she came up with one at all.

From the doorway, Ruby sighed. "Hell wants her just as bad; a flesh and blood Angel that you can question, torture, and that bleeds? She's the Stanley cup. And sooner or later, heaven or hell, they're going to find you." I noticed that she wasn't still staring at Sam and I, although her eyes flickered towards us every so often, as if checking for any changes. Just to annoy her, I tightened my grip on his hand. Take that.

"I need to get it back for that reason; my grace, my energy." Anna said, speaking confidently with an eery smile.

Lily frowned at her. "So...what? You can just get it back?"

Anna nodded, and the smile she sort, despite it's creepy look, was somewhat comforting.

"Alright!" Dean clapped his hands together, seeming excited. "I like this plan. So, where's this grace of yours?"

"I'm not sure. I kind of lost track when I was falling ten thousand feet per second." she had a sarcastic tone to her voice, although it was barely recognizable, when disguised with that monotone she'd been using throughout the entire conversation.

Behind me, I felt Sam straightening up, obviously have thought of something.

"Fall?" He asked Anna. "Like, you literally fell?"

"Yes."

"And it would be viewable to the human eye? Like a meteror, or a comet?"

* * *

><p>It didn't take long before the group had broken up to go our seperate ways, some pairing up while others, like myself, chose to stay alone. I would have much rathered be with Sam and help research his theory, but someone got to that position before I could. Almost as soon as he was out of the panic room, Ruby pounced on him, leading him up the stairs away from the rest of us, and especially away from me. When I got up there, I heard him speaking in low voices inside the living room, and when I peered inside, I felt my heart sink, seeing how closely they were sitting on the couch.<p>

"Here," Sam pointed to the screen of his laptop. "March, 1985; a meterorite vanished in the night sky over Northwestern Ohio." He turned his face towards Ruby. "It was sighted nine months before Anna was born, and she was born in that part of Ohio."

Ruby was silent, staring back at Sam with a smile on her face. And then, she spoke. "You're pretty buff for a nerd."

I really, _really _did not like her.

The only thing I found odd was Sam suddenly swallowed, as if remembering something, and then adverted his face away from hers, expanding the gap between them once again. He cleared his throat, pointing at the screen. "So, uh, I think that was Anna, and at the same time, there was another meteror over Kentucky."

"And that's her grace?"

He shrugged. "Might be."

"Alright. That just narrows it down to an entire state."

"Look, it's a start."

I was done listening to them. Moving away from the wall I'd been hiding behind, I exited Bobby's house, and found Anna, Dean and Lily, all standing together by the Impala in the front yard, talking amongst themselves. They all wore solemn expressions, I noted as I headed over towards them, which meant that they were obviously discussing Anna and her predicament. While they spoke, I noticed Lily casually step closer to Dean, and him wrap his arm around her shoulders breathing breaking from what he'd been saying, almost as if both of the actions were natural now, like breathing.

As soon as I saw that, I stopped walking, and felt jealousy igniting like a burning fire inside of me, the flames licking at my heart. It wasn't fair how close she was to Dean, and how they could just...be together without having to worry about any complications, or particular demons getting in the way. Sam and I were still only friends. Close friends, sure, but just that.

Turning away from them, I sighed, and wondered if this was what Ash had felt like, when it had just been her, Dean, Sam, Lily and I. Did she feel like a fifth wheel? Because I sure did. I felt like I was interfering with Sam and Ruby, rather than the other way around. It was amazing how Ash could just keep this anger that I myself was feeling, bottled up for so long. I felt like I might explode with rage at any second.

And then I wondere where Ash was, and began to simmer down as I searched for her.

It didn't take long to spot the red hoodie she had been wearing that afternoon, sticking out from behind a particularly large oak tree to the left of the house. When I reached her, I wasn't surprised at all to see that she was sitting agaisnt the trunk of the tree with a beer in her hands, her eyes shut and head titled up towards the sky. For a moment, I wondered if she had passed out. However, as I approached, her eyes opened.

"Hey." I said, taking a seat beside her. "What're you doing?"

She looked down at the bottle in her hand, as if considering lying about it, or maybe throwing it across the lot towards the Impala in an attempt to make it seem like it was Dean's. But then, she just shrugged her shoulders, returning her gaze to mine. "Nothing much, just having a drink. You know how Lily is these days, trying to get me to _cleanse_. Soda just doesn't do the job."

"You probably shouldn't be-" I broke off mid-sentence when I noticed the bottle was already empty.

"Relax." ash set it down, and pushed herself into a straighter sitting position. "One isn't enough for me to get drunk off of." I was about to speak when realised she was no longer looking at me; her eyes had moved over towards the Impala, more importantly, towards Anna. "Can you believe her?" Ash asked in a low, hateful tone. "She thinks that she's so goddamn rightous."

"What do you mean?"

Ash sighed, running her hand through her short hair angirly. It was a habit of hers whenever she got overly frusterated, and/or pissed off about something. I could tell that it was both in this particular situation. "She deicded to fall from heaven, to sotp being an Angel, all because she threw a fit for being ignored for a while?" Ash rolled her eyes, and looked away again, her icy stare turned on the ground. "Didn't want to take orders anymore so she just ditched."

I didn't want to say the wrong thing, but I also had no idea what Ash was wanting to hear at the moment. So, tentively, and I raised my eye brows, and spoke. "Isn't that what you would do? If you had no emotions, no free will, and just had to follow out orders?"

"I'd be happy to know that I was doing something right." Ash answered immediately. "I'd like the simplicity of it. No moral ethic shit like you and Lily are always trying to make me think about." her eyes turned distant, and I knew she was thinking about something, just from the way her voice had softened, and sounded light, so unlike her usual tone. "Just, 'this is how it is' and knowing that what you're doing is the will of God."

Sometimes Ash could be so unpredictable, like now, for instance. While she fell silent, thinking over what she'd said, I decided there was no point tring to talk to her right now. Standing up, I brushed the crab grass from my pantlegs, and then motioned towards the house. "We'd better go inside. I think Sam figured out where Anna's grace is."

* * *

><p>As we rode to the location where Anna's grace had fallen, -a tree in the middle of nowhere-, I kept throwing worried glances towards Ash. Rather than sit up front in the van with Lily and I, she chose to sit in the back, alone, curled up against one of the van sides with her knees tucked underneath her chin. There was a nervous air around her, and as we neared the location, I noticed her checking the clock on the dashboard more than needed.<p>

"Can you hurry it up, Lily?" She asked, sounding more annoyed now than nervous. "Let's get there already."

Lily sighed, but I did notice her pressing her foot down slightly on the gas. "What's going on, Ash? You're hiding something, now spill."

In the back, Ash had stood up, and was now resting her arms on the back of the empty seat between Lily and I, her eyes set on the Impala ahead of us. "I need a drink. Jesus, I need a freaking beer. Soda is not doing the job and I would really, _really _appreciate it if you two got off my back about how much I drink."

I wasn't sure if that was all Ash was worried about, because she kept looking at the Impala, or rather, the people inside of it. But I wasn't about to press her on that, just to have her get mad. So instead, I turned my face away from her to stare out the window and let Lily deal with the "drinking" situation. Besides, I, too, had other things on my mind. Like, for instance, the fact that Ruby had been able to ride with Sam while I was told, by Sam himself, to ride with Lily and Ash. It wasn't that I minded, riding with my sisters. But to know that Sam chose Ruby over myself...that really hurt.

The tree that we were looking for wasn't exactly hard to spot; it was huge, and as we followed the Impala, turning into the mouth of a large oak feild, I sat up in my seat, ready to get all of this over with. I was tired of Ruby's close involvement in this case, for whatever reason that was. As soon as we got Anna her grace back, Ruby would surely leave us alone.

Anna was the first out of the Impala when it parked, her eyes set directly on the large oak tree. "It's where the grace touched down." She said. "I can feel it."

I got out of our van just in time to see Anna leading the way towards the van with Dean close behind, and Sam right behind him, Ruby at his side. Slamming my door a little harder than I had intended, I sprinted to catch up with Sam, and pushed myself between him and Ruby as I fell into step with him. I was done watching all of this happen. It was time to fight fire with fire.

Lily came up to the left of Dean, walking beside him towards the tree, but when I turned my face back towards the van, I was surprised to see Ash lingering behind, her hands shoved in her jean's pockets and face turned towards the remaining trees in the woods. I was going to ask what she was doing when I realised that everyone had stopped walking, and stopped myself just before I would have walked into the back of Lily.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking first to Sam, and then to Anna, who was staring wide-eyed no longer at the oak tree, but at a cluster of smaller trees to the right of us.

"They're here." She whispered, looking terrified for the first time since remember she was an Angel. "They're here...but how?"

I was about to ask what she meant when I heard a deep, crooning voice behind us: "Well, looks like the little mud monkey was right."

And that was when they emerged.

The first person I saw was Castiel, his shoulders hunched and eye brows knitted together as he surveyed the group of us with a worried, almost nervous expression. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off from anything he was going to say as Uriel stepped out from behind the tree, and held up a necklace tight in his hand for all to see. I couldn't move, staring wide eyed at them. How did the Angels find us? Better yet, now what we were supposed to do? Fight off a couple of Angels?

Ruby began backing away from them, her eyes narrowed into accusatory slits. "How did-"

"-We find you?" Uriel finished for her with a smug smile. He shrugged his shoulders, and took a few steps forward, tilting his head towards the van. "Call it an anonymous tip."

All at once, we looked to Ash, who was studiously ignoring our gazes. I could see her face, though, and there was no hiding the looked of torture on her face, like she was in pain. Immediately, I understood why she was doing that, and I felt my face darkening.

"Ash." I whispered. "You didn't."

In front of me, Anna was turned towards her as well, looking angrier than I was. "You sold me out?"

Ash said nothing.

"You son of a bitch." Dean started towards her, but Lily grabbed onto his jacket sleeve, keeping him at her side.

"Wait," she said, as he turned his harsh glare onto her. "Don't do anything drastic."

"Drastic? She snitched, just like a little kid! She betrayed us!"

This was all so unbelievable. Ash had really done the deed; she told the Angels where Anna would be. But in a sad way, I wondered howcome I hadn't seen this coming. She had been acting weird since finding out Anna was an Angel, and then in the car, how anxious she had seemed while she'd been looking at the clock. Thinking back on it now, she must have had a certain time she'd given the Angels, and she did not wish for us to be late. If only I'd seen this all before. I could have stoppe this from happening.

Uriel was still looking pleased with the outcome. "Ashley. You have done well."

"I didn't do it for you." Ash snapped, trying to keep her tone light. She paused, and then looked at Castiel before quickly looking away again. "Or you. I did it because...because..."

"It was right?" Lily interupted, sounding hurt. "You did it because it was _the right thing to do_? Ash, when have you ever cared about that?"

When I looked back at her, Ash was still leaning against the van, but I noticed her shoulders trembling slightly, despite her hard face. "I have my reasons, Lily. Don't question them." She pushed off the van, and started towards us, her steps looking heavy, and full of dread. When she reached us, Sam moved away from me, just because she'd gone to stand beside me. On any other occasion, I wouldn't have appreciated him overreacting like that. But I felt the same way, and so without looking at Ash, I stepped away from her as well.

"I'm sorry, Anna." Castiel was saying, to which Anna just shook her head.

"No you're not. You wouldn't know the feeling."

Cas almost looked hurt at her words, and he tried again, looking earnest. "We spent a long time together."

"You're just following orders."

I heard something, like the sound of a handgun being cocked. Lily held her's at the ready in front of her, while Dean had drawn a knife. Together, they moved forwards, practically blocking the rest of us from the Angels. "If you think we're jus toign to let you take her," Dean snarled, "you can forget it." At once, Sam had his own gun drawn, and then he looked at me, his eye brow raised expectantly. Slowly, I brought out mine, although my hand was trembling, and when I went to cock it, my thumb slipped twice. I didn't know why we were doing this, considering that our guns and knifes were useless against angels.

"Dean." Castiel tried, but Uriel stepped in front of him, cutting him off, and then sent Dean flying backward.

Ash was suddenly straightening up, looking furious. "Hey! We had a deal!"

"Oh hush." Uriel ignored her, and watched with an amused expression as Dean attempted to stand. He looked like he was getting ready to send him flying again, but Anna had rushed to stand over him, her arms outstretched as if to protect him from Uriel.

"Stop, stop this right now." She looked down at the ground for a moment, and then sighed, accepting defeat. "Just make it quick."

Uriel, poised with his hand raised towards Dean, slowly lowered it, and then nodded at Castiel. Together, they walked over to Anna, and each placed a hand on either of her shoulders before vanishing, leaving the sound of clothing whispering against itself. Once they were gone, Lily dropped her gun and hurried over to Dean. She crouched down beside him, and touched her hand to the gash on his face, opening after he'd slammed into a tree trunk.

"Are you alright?" She asked, pulled back her hand and grimmacing at the blood on her palm.

Dean struggled to stand up, but he wasn't looking at Lily. His eyes were on Ash. "I'm fine... What the _hell _did you think you were doing?" He was suddenly on his feet and stampeding towards her, looking absolutely pissed. Once he reached her, he gace Ash a hard shove in the shoulder, causing her to lose her footing and come tumbling to the ground. "You sold out Anna!" he continued, standing over her threatingly. "You handed her over to the guys who want to kill her! We were supposed to protect her!"

Slowly, Ash stood up, and it surprised me when she didn't make a move to shove him back. She just stared back at him angirly, her chest heaving.

"Why did you do it?" I asked quietly. "The truth this time. No lies."

"Because!" Ash exploded, and she pushed past Dean to stand in the middle of the clearing, looking at each of our faces desperately. "We knew hardly anything about her! she dragged us into this huge mess between Angels, and demons, and we were all bound to get hurt. Plus," Ash sighed, and turned her pleading look onto me. "She commited a crime and it was God's, _God's_ orders to bring her back to Heaven?"

Dean sighed. "I was wrong about you, Ash. I thought you were someone who would fight to save a life, and fight for freedom. Not someone who would blindly follow some God who wants his own Angels killed for thinking for themselves!"

"He saved your life!" Ash argued. "To help stop the end of the world! For that, I trust him."

Despite this, Dean narrowed his eyes, and then held up his hand. "I don't want you in my sight."

There was a stiffling wind that rolled through the oak field at that moment, and as it lifted up my air and ran across my face, I felt a change in atmosphere. Ruby, Sam, Lily, Dean and myself were all against Ash. It was such an obvious observation, judging from the way that Dean and Lily had walked around Ash to join the rest of us on the other side of her. Now it was sort of like a battle feild line up, us against her.

"Is this how you all feel?" Ash asked, her voice cracking in several spots. She turned her attention away from the others, looking just at Lily and I now. "You two? My own sisters?"

I looked down at my feet, and mumbled under my breath.

"What was that?"

"I..I said we're not _really _sisters." As soon as I spoke, I knew it was a mistake.

"So that's how it is then." Ash smiled ruefully, and then threw her hands up in the air. "I save all of your asses, I make sure Anna gets put in jail, not _killed, _and this is how you repay me? What a fantastic lot of friends you guys are!"

Beside me, Sam ran a hand through his hair, letting his drop against his side again. "Ash, you don't know if they stuck with their promise to you, regarding what would happen to Anna or not. You went behind our backs and set her up, turned her in when we promised to protect her, and now she's in danger. She was innocent."

"I think you should go." Dean said darkly.

"Fine. _Fine. _Then you two." Ash pointed at Lily and I, her face red from the harsh tone she'd been using. "Get your shit out of my van! You want me gone, fine. But I'm taking _my _van."

Slowly, Lily and I stumbled over to the van, and began unloading everything of our's from the back. It took ages, having to grab every last scrap to our name. In the end, we'd made two piles of weapons, two of clothing, and stacks of books. I hated seeing all of my possesions, laid out in the meadow like that. But Ash was furious, and there was no point in trying to argue with her.

Once the van was empty, she gave us one, final look. "Don't come for help from me any time in the near future. Thanks a lot guys."

And then, she was hopping inside of the van, and speeding off away from us. As soon as she was gone, I realised what had happened, and crumpled to my knees, staring wide-eyed up at Lily. "What have we done?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Ash: **Hey kids! Now I know your attention span is shorter than the Trickster after downing some pixie sticks, but see that button? The one that says, 'review?' Yeah. I think you know what I'm getting at**.**

**Lily: **Really, Ash? Really?

**Ash: **WHAT? I'm just giving them a suggestion. You know, there's more people reading this than reviewing.

**Mira: **I'm sure insulting them is really going to make then want to review.

**Ash: **Would you rather me be sickly sweet?

**Lily: **Would it kill you to try?

**Ash: **Fine. Let's try this again.

**Lily: **Oh, this should be good.

**Ash: **Hello readers! First off, I'd like to just thank you profusely for taking time out of your busy, busy schedules to read our delightful little story. But you see, we only have 13 reviews, and we know more of you read it. So I'm going to close my eyes and make a wish-

**Mira: **Okay, that was a...good effort on your part.

**Ash: **That literally hurt me. Listen up people: reviews=happy Ash. Capiche?

**Lily: **I think that's the best we're going to get. Anyway, thanks for reading our story fanfiction people! And you'd better listen to Ash or else we're going to get an earful. See you all later!


	25. Twenty Five Lily

25. Lily

It was such a surreal expirience, being without Ash. I could feel the difference in the next few days after her departure; in the silence that engulfed the house, the lack of sarcastic remarks in conversations, as well as the very apparent absence in our group of three, having suddenly become a duo. And I felt so incredibly awful when, after those first few days, I honestly began to appreciate her not being around us. That may sound mean, especially considering the history I had with her, but when comparing the pros and cons, the truth was in the data.

No more trying to drag her out of bed in the morning when we had to go on a hunt. No more mood swings, and snappy comments when we caught her on a bad day, bad week, bad month, bad whatever. There would be no more death threats or peeved stares when we were forced to skip a meal, or if I drove too slow, or anything else that made Ash act the way she did. No more would I have to stand by and watch her drink herself to the point of physically being sick in gas stations on the highway, or having her smack me awake in the midle of the night while she was still asleep... Nope. Everything about Ash that Mira and I had put up with for all the time we'd been together was not going to be a problem anymore. If that makes me sound like a bad person, then so be it. But Ash betrayed us, and Ash left. Forgive me for basking in the only good outcome.

After Anna being captured, the four of us returned to Bobby's house, taking advantage of it's emptiness, thanks to him working a case in Dominican. I didn't even blink at the navy sweater of Ash's that she'd left sitting in a crumpled heap beside the door. Instead, I gently moved it out of sight with my foot, and continued on through the threshold, following Dean into the living room.

"I need a drink." Dean muttered, starting towards the kitchen. "Hey Lily, you want one? Oh." He stopped, and tossed me a sheepish look. "I forgot. You don't-"

"I'd love one, thanks."

I don't know who was more surprised from my answer; me, or Dean. I suppose somewhere in the back of my mind, since the whole Ash-incident, I'd been yearning for something to relieve me of this anger and frustration, but I hadn't exactly been expecting it to be alcohol. Even still, one bottle wouldn't kill me, right? It might even do me some good.

Dean was staring at me, his eye brows raised and lip twitching, fighting back a grin. "You, _you _want a beer?"

"Yeah." I perched myself on the arm of Bobby's couch, and tried to strike a nonchalant pose. "I can have a drink once in awhile."

He was still looking shocked, although also rather amused, like the whole situation was hilariously confusing. "But you never drink."

"If it's that big of a deal, I won't have one."

"No no, I'm getting it. It'll be interesting to see you drunk."

His enthusiasm was surprising, and as I watched him saunter off towards the kitchen, I wondered if I myself were planning on getting drunk. After a moment's thought, and a quick recollection of Ash spending two hours getting sick a few years back after an especially wild night out at the bars, I decided that one drink was enough for me. Dean could wonder all he wanted about what I'd be like drunk, and despite my own curiosity towards that as well, there would be no chance of me reaching that point today.

He returned to where I sat, holding two bottles in his hands. Handing one off to me, he collapsed onto the couch, and gently took hold of my elbow to slide me down from the arm, and onto the cushion next to him. The suddenly closeness made my cheeks burn, and I quickly pressed the cool bottle to my face, hoping the damp glass would help lessen the blush. You'd think after spending so much time with Dean that he wouldn't still have that effect on me. Yet there I was, sheepishly covering up a blush without much achievement.

"Hey." Mira came in through the living room doorway, followed close behind by Sam. "I was hoping we could talk about-" she broke off suddenly, and I noticed that she was wearing the same look Dean had been when I'd taken him up on his offer for a drink. It wasn't too long after I noticed that Mira askde slowly, "Is..is that a beer in Lily's hand?"

Dean was grinning. "Yeah."

"Is she holding it for you?" Sam asked, looking equally shocked. God, was it really that surprising? Really?

"Nope. Lily's going to drink that all by herself like a big girl." he patted my knee, worsening the already extreme humiliation I was expiriencing. How come it was so shocking for me to have one drink, yet when Ash nearly drinks a bar dry, none of us ever even blinked?

"Anyway," Mira recovered from her initial shock with a shake of her head, and then sank into the couch opposite of ours. "Like I was saying, I was hoping we could talk about Ash."

At once, Dean's face hardened, and I noticed his grip tightening on the neck of his beer. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Dean," Sam tried to reason, taking a seat beside Mira and leaning forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "You were pretty angry back there-"

"Which is exactly why I don't want to talk about it."

"You'll feel better if you do."

"Who are you, Dr. Phil?" Dean took a long drink of his beer before sighing, and setting it down on the coffee table in front of our couch. "Listen, I know you think venting is the way to go here, but honestly, I don't even want to say her name. What she did was...was.." he trailed off, obviously unable to find the right words, and then picked up his beer again, falling into silence as he drank.

"What I think he means," I began hesitantly, eying him before continuing. "is that Ash betrayed us, and she left. There's nothing to talk about."

Sam sighed. "I know, and I'm not happy at all about what she did. I'm not trying to change anyone's minds here either. But you're really angry, Dean, and Ash was like, your best friend. If you want to talk about it, maybe it will make you feel better."

I held my breath, and turned slightly to measure Dean's expression. I didn't want him lashing out, and if he was about to, maybe I would be able to calm him down before he exploded. To to my surprise, though, Dean wasn't looking like he was about to do anything; he had his hand placed over his eyes, looking more tired than furious. After a moment of silence, he spoke.

"I don't need to talk about anything, Sam. I just need to forget everything about A..._her_."

The tension in the room gradually evaporated until there was nothing in the air except a silent understanding among us. For the time being, Ash would be a thought, and not a conversation topic, as evident from Dean's reaction. Her betrayal must have hit him hard, and it was probably going to take a lot of time before he would be able to talk about it to anyone.

"Well," Dean was suddenly on his feet, finishing off his beer and then turning to look at me. "You girls are going to need a new ride now, huh?"

I realised that he was right; Ash had taken the van. "Oh, I forgot... Yeah, I guess we do."

"Bobby's got a nice looking 80' Chevy pickup out in the yard. If I can get it working, you can take that."

"Sure. That'd be great."

Before retreating to go off on his own, Dean gave me a reassuring smile, and nodded once. As I watched him leave, I wondered who exactly it was he was trying to reassure; me, or him?

* * *

><p>I spent the next week looming outside in front of Bobby's place, hidden among the junkyard of cars while Dean fixed up the truck. Sometimes we talked, although not about anything specific, or terribly significent, and definitely not about Ash. For the most part, we talked about whatever was on our mind. I can admit that sometimes I searched desperately for a conversation topic when one ended, just to make sure I could keep it going. Talking with Dean was so different from talking with Mira, or Ash. When I talked to him, he set those deep, green eyes on me, and I knew he was listening, that he was taking everything in. And that was such an amazing thing to have; someone who listens, and cares.<p>

I can't exactly admit that I was able to listen to everything he said, though.

Dean Winchester can be very distracting when he wants to be, and even when he doesn't. Like for instance, every time he got ready to go outside and work on the truck, he changed out of his usual clothes, slipping into a pair of tattered jeans, and a black muscle shirt that hugged his torso. Sometimes, it was slightly windy outside, especially with fall coming to a close and winter coming in quickly, and so Dean would pull on one of Bobby's plaid shirts, keeping the buttons open so the flaps hung loose around him. Mix all of that with the grease smears on his cheeks and hands, as well as those goddamn eyes staring into mine, and there you go; distraction.

"You know," Dean said suddenly one Saturday morning, while he was rummaging inside the hood of the truck. "You never did drink that beer I got you."

I'd been lounging on some rusted van beside him, drawing shapes into the thick film of dust on the windsheild when he'd spoken. When I didn't answer immediately, trying to figure out what I'd exactly done with the beer if I hadn't drank it, Dean pulled his arms out from inside the hood, and wiped them on his jeans, walking towards me with a sly smile.

"You couldn't do it, could you? Couldn't stand to get one drop of alcohol inside of you."

He sounded so smug then I felt slightly peeved, and tried to defend myself. "Well, it got warm, and I hear warm beer doesn't taste as good as when it's cold."

"Sure."

"You don't believe me? Fine. Anytime you want, get me a beer, and I'll drink it."

I could practically see his ears perking as he raised one eye brow. "Anytime?"

"Well, I mean, not when I'm driving, or if I'm working a case-"

"How about now?"

I opened my mouth, and shut it again, surprised with his abrupt offer. Slowly, I brought my knees up under my chin, and narrowed my eyes at Dean, trying to see if he was serious. He stared back at me with those damn eyes, his face a solemn slate. Oviously, he wasn't joking.

"Now." I repeated, just to be sure. "Like, right now?"

"Yep. I've got one cracked open just over there." He jabbed his thumb towards the truck, where I could now see a beer bottle resting just beside the front right tire. "Nice and cold, the best kind there is."

Maybe it was because I'd been sitting in the sun for the past three hours, or because I'd inhaled too much gasoline stench. But whatever the reason, a sudden surge of confidence and determination powered through me, and I was suddenly hopping off the hood of the van. As I walked past Dean, I smiled at him, and then reached down for the beer bottle he'd pointed to. He was right; it was still cold, and the cool condensation soaked my hand in an almost desirable way. Despite my lack of alcohol expirience, I was beginning to warm up to it, because just holding a bottle was making me reconsider not drinking before in my life. I just hoped it tasted half as good as it looked, so I wouldn't be making a big fool of myself in front of Dean as I spat it out.

"Go on." Dean walked up beside me, and nudged my shoulder with his. "Bottoms up."

I brought the bottle toward my lips, and then hesitated, having second thoughts.

"You want me to count you down?"

"No, thanks. I got it."

"Well, any time you're ready, Lil."

I could tell he was enjoying this, and it would only amuse him further if I wasn't able to drink it. So, as to not give him the pleasure, I swallowed my fear, and tipped the bottle back, letting the cool liquid slip into my mouth. Immediately, I began to sputter, the bitter taste nearly making me choke. It was so disgusting that I managed to do exactly what I hoped I wouldn't, and spat it all out into the sand, hurriedly handing off the bottle to Dean as if it might forecfully make me drink more of itself.

"You didn't even swallow it!" He laughed, shaking his head. "Your first beer and you don't even swallow it."

Without even thinking, I snatched the bottle back from him, and his laughing stopped immediately. This time, when I drank the beer, I made sure to swallow it, despite the bitter taste that made my tongue feel like I was burning it. I didn't mean to, and I'd blame the adrenaline rush I had going at that moment, but I managed to finish off the bottle on my own, standing there with it tipped up up my mouth. Whoops.

"There." I let it drop into the sand, and wiped the foam off my lips with a grimmace. "I drank it. Happy?"

Dean just stared at me for a moment.

"Well?"

And then, he began to laugh.

As if it were infectious, I did as well.

Maybe it was because what had happened with Ash had us both down for so long, but when we laughed together, for no reason at all, it carried on for a good five minutes. It had been forever since I'd laughed like that, too, and when I finally calmed down enough to speak, I felt happier than I had in a while. "I suppose I shouldn't have drank the whole bottle."

Dean grinned at me, and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pressing me against his side. "Do you feel a buzz?"

"No, should I?"

"Not until the third or fourth. I'm just making sure I didn't get you drunk on just one. I like a girl who can hold her alcohol."

I loved the feel of his arm around me, and the sweet, musky scent of him that made me feel dizzy, and light, but in such a good way. Honestly, I probably could have stood like that for hours, just feeling the heat radiating off of him and onto me, but I knew he had to get back to work on the truck. So, I retracted his arm from my shoulders, and then grinned at him before starting back towards the rusted van to continue my doodling on the dirty windsheild.

"Hey." Dean said, and I turned around to give him a curious look. "Do you want to help me for a second?"

I didn't quite understand, considering the fact that I knew literally nothing about cars, except for where to pump the gas. "I-"

"Come on. I'll show you the basics."

He was gesturing me forward, and the encouraging grin he was wearing was just so hard to say no to. Rather than trying to and failing, I smilined shyly, and tucked some of my hair behind my ear as I returned to his side, more self conscious than I had been while drinking the beer. My adrenaline rush was gone, as well as that sudden bust of confidence. Now all that was left was me, just me, and as per usual, I was wondering if that was good enough for Dean Winchester.

Returning to the open hood, Dean beckoned me closer, and so I came up to where he stood, standing right beside him as I peered inside of the truck. A puzzle of pipes, and valves and wires stared back at me. "Wow, this looks complicated." I remarked, wondering how the hell anyone could distinguish between that tube and that tube. Everything looked messy and alike to me.

"To the untrained eye, yes." Dean rested one arm against the lip of the open truck hood, and smirked. "But lucky for you, you're in the presence of a professional."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, go on. Teach me."

I hadn't exactly been expecting Dean to reach his arm inside of the truck, pointing out _everything_ to me. I'd sort of thought he would shwo me where the engine was, and where the battery was, and then my tour of the truck would be done. But no, that wasn't the case at all. "This is the fuel filter, the transmission, and the oil stick." He began motioning to various components, stopping to explain them before moving on. Although I wasn't interesting whatsoever in cars, I did my best to listen, and when he finished, I felt as if I had just sat through a physics lecture; a million things were jumbled inside of my brain.

"Well." I said, because I felt Dean giving me an expectant stare. "That was...informative."

He just laughed. "Lily, you are truly amazing. You've tried beer _and _fixing cars, all in one day. I'm impressed."

"You sound surprised. I can be daring."

"I know. And that's why I love you."

I felt my breath catch in my throat from his words, and instantly, my entire body grew warm. When I turned towards him to say something, _anything_, to try and return that amazing favour. But I never got the chance. As soon as I was facing him, Dean brought one hand around my waist, and pulled me closer to him before using the other hand to gently hold my neck as he brought his face down towards mine. I didn't want this to be like our other kisses, where he'd caught me by surprise and I hadn't been able to properly respond. So I met him half way, and pressed my lips over top of his, holding either side of his face.

I leant into him, yeilding in the soft strength of his lips as he kissed me. It was incredible, and so much better than the quick pecks I'd recieved before. This time, I was able to bask in all that is Dean Winchester. His scent, that incredible feeling of warmth and safety when I pressed up against him, and especially the romantic wave rushing to my heart. It was so peaceful and so amazing that I just couldn't bear to end it. But eventually, one of us had to break away. As I turned my face to the side, struggling to catch my breath, Dean pressed his forehead to mine, and chuckled lightly.

"Lily McDonald, you taste like beer. I thought I'd never expirience that."

* * *

><p>A few nights later, as we nearing the end of the second week without Ash, I couldn't get to sleep. Something was keeping me up, and as I turned onto my side, staring out the half moon window above Bobby's desk in front of me, I tried desperately to figure out what it could be. It could have been the couch, because it wasn't the most comfortable thing I'd ever slept on. But I'd already spent two weeks on it, and any other night I would have been asleep already. Nothing in paticular had happened that day to make me restless. There were no noises outside to keep me up, and no talking inside the house. Everyone was asleep. I could hear Dean on the floor beside me, his breathing steady and low, and across the room, Mira and Sam were both out, as well. So why wasn't I?<p>

Sighing, I sat up, and anxiously ran my fingers through my hair, my eyes wandering the length of the room. There wasn't a clock in there, but judging from the light outside, I'd say it was almost three in the morning. That meant in about three more hours, everyone would be waking up for and early morning training session that Dean had devised to keep us all in shape. Despite the fact that no one was ever paticularily excited to be awake that early, what else did we have to do? Lately, it seemed like we were looming around Bobby's and waiting for a seal to fall into our lap rather than going out and investigating for one.

That was it.

My eyes widened, and I let my hand fall into my lap. That was it, wasn't it? That was why I couldn't get to sleep. I knew that this was wrong, and that Mira and I were too much of a distraction for Sam and Dean. As long as we were around, they wouldn't get any work done. Sure, we could try and go with them wherever they decided to go, but when would that be? And how long would they wait to go do anything if Mira and I were to stick around?

So, I suppose that was our only option. We had to leave, and soon.

My eyes wandered automatically downward, at Dean's sleeping body. He was wearing a light gray V-neck that I'd seen him go to bed in every night, a sleeping bag cast carelessly over top of his lower torso. I could see his arms, one arched and tucked behind his head while the other was resting half way up the front of the couch I lay on. Inhaling shakily, I wondered just how I was ever going to leave him, and not feel the same hurt I always did, the hurt that made it hard to focus on anything else.

"I don't want to leave." I whispered in the silence, and repeated it again before noticing that Dean had stirred in his sleep.

His eyes weren't open, but I could tell that he had awoken from the way he let a content sigh slip through his lips. "Leave?" he repeated groggily, and then adjusted his hand behind his head so it was nestled further against his neck. "Who's leaving?"

"No one, Dean." I reached down my hand, and traced the length of his jaw absently, feeling sick to my stomach. "Go back to sleep."

He nodded slowly, and then in a few minutes, I heard the same, heavy breathing pattern he had going before.

As soon as he was back to sleep, I felt my lip quivering, and I wanted nothing more than to slip down off the couch, and curl up at his side. If this was going to be my last night with him, I wanted to spend it with him. But I was too shy to do anything like that, despite how much I _really _wanted to. So instead, I checked to see if his hand was still rested against the couch front. It was, and his fingers were curled open slightly. Very inviting. Eying him carefully to make sure he wasn't going to wake up, I reached down, and slipped my own hand into his. I was about to tighten it when he surprised me, and did it himself, his fingers interwining with mine. Maybe he was awake. Maybe he wasn't. But I really didn't care. Relaxing back into the couch, I thought about his hand, how warm it was, and how his thumb was running over the top of my own soothingly, and soon, I fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>When I told Mira about my late night discovery the next morning, she hesitated, but only briefly, before agreeing that it was time for us to go. I was slightly curious as to why she had given in so quickly; I'd been ready for an argument about how she needed to stay. Although it wasn't a bad thing that there wasn't any need for a debate over the matter, I was seriously confused as to <em>why <em>there wasn't.

"That's it?" I asked, and checked over my shoulder quickly to make sure that the boys were still in the kitchen before continuing. "You don't even want to try and convince me to stay?"

Mira just shrugged. "I agree with everything you've said, and I think you're right."

"But what about Sam?"

"What about him?"

"Well, aren't you a little anxious about leaving him?"

It actually looked like Mira had finally begun reconsidering her descision, and I noticed her peering around me to look into the kitchen. When I followed her line of vision, I could see just what she was looking at. Dean had somehow managed to slip out of the kitchen without me noticing, and so Sam was all alone, leaning against one of the visible counters with a thoughtful expression as he lightly tapped his beer bottle against this thigh. At first, I didn't quite understand why this had caught Mira's attention, until I saw movement from the other side of the kitchen that wasn't fully visible from where we were. And then, Ruby stepped into view, moving close to Sam as she murmured something I couldn't hear. Oh. That would be why Mira...of course she wanted to leave.

"Never mind." I said quickly, when I returned my attention to her and found her look absolutely crestfallen. "Forget I asked. We're going, and that's all that matters."

Despite this, and my attempts at blocking her view of the kitchen, Mira still managed to manouver herself around me so that she was staring right at Sam and Ruby. "I just don't get it, Lily." she said, and when she looked at me, I felt my chest pinch at how sad her eyes were. "I tried being descrete about it, like you were with Dean. I tried playing the best friend, and giving him adivce when he needed it. I've agreed with everything he's said, I've even told him things that I've never told anyone else, not even you and Ash. And yet," she fell against cluttered shelf of books behind her, eyes set on the kitchen. "he's in there with her, that demon girl. Am I not good enough for him? Is that what it is? I'd really like to know the reason."

It was never an easy thing, seeing one of my sisters in such pain. I knew how much Sam meant to her, and how she desperately wished for him to fall for her in the way that she was falling for him. But I didn't know how to explain why this wasn't happening, because I didn't even know. So what was I supposed to do, lie on the spot? Try and make her feel good by pulling some bullshit out of the air? The best thing to do in that situation was to get out of there, and especially away from the kitchen, as fast as possible. Without answering her, I took Mira's wrist, and tugged her out of the house, until we were both sitting on the porch steps in silence.

"I just want to leave." Mira whispered finally, and she gave a short, humourless laugh. "Well, I want _her _to leave, but everytime she does, she comes back. So I guess this is the only alternative."

"Mira, I don't want to make you feel like we _have _to go right now-"

"It's fine." she interupted me with a gentle smile. "I'm ready to go. There's no reason for us to stay any longer."

Dean Winchester was a pefectly good reason, but I didn't say this. Instead, I looked down at the dust covered steps, and at my sneakers that were equally dirty, leaving Mira alone with her thoughts. I'd learned, after spending so much time with her, that whenever she was angry, or upset, the best thing to do was to let her figure things out on her own. Besides, I had enough to think about myself. Like, for instance, how the hell was I going to leave all of this..._him, _behind?

* * *

><p>That same day, Mira and I loaded up the truck Dean had fixed for us, and got ready to go. There was a reluctant pace to our actions, and despite how many times I told myself that this was the right thing, I still felt like it wasn't. But how many times had we left, only to meet up with them again somewhere down the road? It'd be nearly two years since our first meeting, and we'd always somehow managed to get back together again for whatever. So maybe this wasn't good-bye. Maybe this was, "I'll be back soon", and thinking that made me feel slightly better.<p>

"You're all packed up then?" Dean asked, leaning against the side of the truck bed with a solemn expression.

I checked inside the tinted window for a second before nodding, and then I gave him a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I guess we are."

"Do you know where you're going?"

"Do any of us ever?"

He laughed, but I noticed that it wasn't in his eyes; they were distant, and sad. "It's going to be weird, not having you guys around."

"I know. But this is what needs to happen... I think. I hope I'm not wrong."

"I hope you're not either."

We shared a look, passing unspoken thoughts between us as almost a parting gift. I tried to let him see just how much I'd appreciated him in my life, especially in the last few weeks. That was what was making this departure so much harder than the other ones; this time, I'd grown closer to Dean that I'd ever been, and leaving him felt so wrong.

"I'm really going to miss you, Lily." He murmured suddenly, and I felt my heart pull at his words.

I didn't really think about what I was doing, as if I was acting on instinct, when I closed the space between us and wrapped my arms around his waist. There was a certain longing in his actions, how tightly he held me back and for how long. I knew I had to go soon; there was Mira, descending down the porch stairs after saying good bye to Sam. We should be on the road before dark so we could get a motel room somwhere. It was easy to sleep in the van if we couldn't, but this time we had a truck, and I was sure it wouldn't be nearly as comfortable. Reluctantly, I pulled away from Dean, and then turned around to face Mira as she approached.

"Ready to go?" she asked, reaching for the passenger door handle of the truck.

"Yeah."

Swallowing tightly, I walked around the front of the truck, and got into the driver's seat, feeling Dean following me. As I got in, he closed the door, and leaned inside of the window, his eyes wandering the interior proudly. "Now,originally this piece of crap had a 305 in it but it looked like it blew up, so I installed a 350 bored .60 over with oversized pistons, a mild cam, edelbrock style intake, holley 600cfm carb, and longtube headers. The transmision is a TH350 with a shiftkit in it."

At first, I just stared at him blankly, wondering why the hell he was telling me this. That is, until I remembered him trying to teach me the interior of a truck a few days before, and slowly, I began to smile. "So what does that mean, in "Lily McDonald" terms?"

He returned my smile broadly. "It means you're good to go, Lil."

"Thanks for doing this." Mira leaned forward in her seat and looked at him gratefully. "It means a lot."

"It's no big deal. I just hope it doesn't break down on you girls in the middle of the highway."

Now I couldn't tell if he was joking. "Dean-"

"It'll be fine, Lil, don't worry." leaning towards me, he brought his face close to mine, and then hesitated, probbaly waiting for me to react. When I didn't move, he cupped one side of my face as he qently kissed me, his lips lingering. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always am." I replied breathlessly.

And then, he was backing away from the truck, giving a slight wave of his hand as I turned the key in the ignition, and the engine rumbled to life. At first, I didn't move, just sitting there staring at him with a reluctant expression. But I reminded myself that I had to go, and so without breaking Dean's gaze, I backed up, and turned the truck around to head towards the end of Bobby's drive. As we neared the road, I looked out my rearview mirror, but Dean was hidden in a cloud of dust that our tires had kicked up.

* * *

><p>After we crossed the North Dakota border, we stopped in Rochester, Minnesota, and decided to stay the night. The first hotel we came across wasn't exactly four star, but it's not like those were our usual. I was actually growing <em>very <em>used to the dingy rooms. And despite the fact that we were noticably one short from our regular trio, I made sure to keep Ash pushed far into the back of my mind. She left. That's the end of that. There was no point dwelling on it.

I was fine, too, until we actually got inside of our hotel room and I'd opened my mouth to call dibs on not being on Ash duty. Immediately, I clamped it shut again, and avoided Mira's curious stare as I shuffled over to my bed quietly. Maybe it was because it was late, but I felt very drained at that moment. As I fell onto the mattress and let my bag slip from my fingers, I thought about the past few weeks, and I began to realise just what we'd gotten ourselves into. Mira and I without Ash? It was easy for those two weeks we were with the Winchesters, but now that we were on our own, that absence was so apparent that it made my heart ache.

The next morning, after a night of relentless tossing and turning without the prevail of sleep, Mira woke me up all too early for my taste. When I resisted getting out of bed, she showed me the newspaper she'd picked up while fetching us coffee. The front page showcased an article about a mysterious murder that had occured over in Chicago. A teenage girl had been found torn open, with her heart missing and parts of her flesh eaten away. Mira and I locked eyes as soon as I finished skimming the text.

"Werewolf?" I offered, and she gave a grim nod.

"It fits the description."

So, despite my lack of sleep, I was put on driving duty as we crossed through Wisconsin. The ride was uncomfortably silent, as was the one the day before, too. For the sake of my sanity, I blamed the hours on the road, but somewhere in the back of my mind, Ash was showing herself little by little. I wasn't entirely regretting her leaving, since I was still furious at the fact that she'd blatantly betrayed us. But there was a part of me that was wondering if she regretted her descision...and did she miss us?

"Whoa, Lily, you're going to miss the turn if you don't slow down." Mira peered at me anxiously over top the map she'd been reading from, and then she pointed out the windsheild at the exit I'd nearly overlooked to take us off the highway. I pulled a sharp right just in time, and ignored the blare of horns from the people I'd cut off behind us.

"Sorry. I guess I got distracted."

"What are you thinking about?"

I could have told her the truth, just to have someone to vent to. But I wasn't sure if either of us were really ready to talk about what happened. So instead, I lied. "Dean."

"Oh." she was silent. And then I heard her lowering the map with a sigh. "Would you be mad if I went on a rant about Sam right now?"

"Would you be mad if I said I'm not _really _in the mood right now?"

When I looked at Mira out of the corner of my eye, she was deflating ever so slowly. "No, that's fine."

"Look, if you want to talk about him-"

"I said it's fine, Lily. Drop it." her jaw locked and she stubbornly turned her face out the window to avoid eye contact.

Great. That was just what we needed; another reason for this car ride to be awkward. At least now there was no chance of a conversation about anything, let alone Ash. I'd figured that she'd slowly drift to the back of my mind again, but that wasn't the case. For the rest of the drive to Chicago, Ash remained right where she was, silently eating away at me until I was sure I would explode with sadness. She and Mira were the closest things to sisters that I had, and without her, I felt like I'd lost a member of my own family. And that felt so awful that my stomach began to churn threatiningly.

By the time we reached the morgue, the tension in the truck had thickened to the point where it felt like the air had grown stiff. Mira avoided me entirely as she grabbed her FBI badge from the duffel bags in the bed of the truck, and when I asked if she'd grabbed mine too, she ignored me and headed right inside the building on her own. I must have stood on the sidewalk for a good minute or so with my jaw slack, wondering what the _hell _was her problem. But I eventually remembered our purpose for being in Chicago, so I grudgingly grabbed my own badge, and went inside as well.

A middle aged man with a long face and tired eyes was talking to Mira as I passed through the doors, and he turned when I entered, giving me a quick once over. "Are you with the FBI as well?" he asked in a throaty voice. I showed him my badge, to which he gave a brief nod before motioning at Mira. "I just told her that the body hasn't been cleaned up yet, so you may want to be careful what you examine in there. It's not a pretty sight."

"I think we can handle it." I said reassuringly, as I stepped around him to open the door that contained the bodies.

In all the time that I'd been hunting, it was generally Ash and I who examined bodies while Mira coaxed detectives, doctors, whoever else was around the victim into telling her as much as possible about what happened. Because of that, I could confidently say that I wasn't generally shocked from anything anymore. I figured I'd seen it all. But sometimes, I can be wrong. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen, when I see a body and feel everything that I've ever eaten in my life make it's way right back up my throat.

Like that day, for instance.

The man opened up a drawer to the left of me to reveal possibly the most ghastly sight that I had ever seen. The body was of a brunette teenager, no older than sixteen I would guess, but any other characteristics besides those were hidden amongst the bloodied, broken shell that she was now. Her chest was dug open, with literal claw marks slashed across any bare skin left visible. Inside of the gory hole, I could see no heart, but from the damage around it's general place, it looked like it had been ripped out.

"God." Mira turned away instantly, touching a hand to her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut.

The man gave her a skeptical look. "Aren't you supposed to be trained for sights like this?"

"That's...that's not generally my area of expertise. Agent Benetar and her usual partner examine the body."

"Usual partner?"

"Yeah, she's left the FBI." Mira gagged slightly, and then stepped furhter away from the body. "Could I talk to you outside, please, while Agent Benetar examines the body?"

Once they were gone, I tried to relax slightly and compose myself, but the body was just such a horrid sight. This poor girl was mutilated. And the scent was enough to make me want to lose my sense of smell all together. I knew it would be something I wasn't soon going to forget. But for now, I had to examine the body as best as I could. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed rubber gloves from a nearby metal try, and reached inside of the body, swallowing my disgust as I poked around for a few minutes.

Eventually, I pulled back, having come up with nothing interesting; no claws, no dog hair, nothing. Although we didn't have any evidence that could us, it was definitely a werewolf attack. What else could rip apart a young girl that that? As I was pulled off my gloves, I thought about how werewolves only kill people when they turn. Maybe the girl had some enemies that would come after her. The next place to check would be the girl's house to talk to her family.

* * *

><p>Melinda Goodwin's parents's house was located on a remote street on the edge of Chicago, resting in a small but pleasent looking neighborhood. I couldn't help but notice how large it was, and how large all of the other houses were. This was obviously a pricy neighborhood. The Goodwin's must be a wealthy family. Immediately, I began picturing what Melinda's life would have been like; wonderful, no doubt, having everything at her finger tips and daddy's credit card to help pay. I suppose that wasn't fair of me to judge her so quickly, but growing up, I'd lived in a smaller area where the houses weren't two stories and the people weren't exactly living the good life either. It was probably just jealousy flaming inside of me as we walked up to her house, and saw that there were two very expensive looking cars in her driveway, making our truck parked behind them look like a hunk of rusted tin.<p>

A woman resembling Melinda, only differing in age, answered the door after Mira knocked, her drawn face examining us with sorrowful eyes. After a moment, she spoke, and sounding as if the act itself was draining her even more. "Can I help you?"

Mira gave her a comforting smile. "I'm sorry, but I'd like to speak with you for just one moment. We're investigating the passing of your daughter."

"I've already talked to the police." The woman began to close the door with a weary shake of her head.

"We're the FBI."

"Well...come in then." gradually, she opened up the door fully again, granitng us entry.

Inside, I felt like a warm blanket had been thrown over me, sheilding from the harsh winter weather just ouside the door. The Goodwin's home was like something out of a magazine; neutral walls, thick carpet, tall ceilings and wide doorframes. I inhaled slightly at the sight of it, and felt myself becoming just a little bit more jealous of Melinda. I knew it was the past few week's events catching up and doing a number on me, so I did my best to push aside my anger and focus on the task at hand.

Mrs. Goodwin lead us into a room off to the side of the foyer, where there was no television, only two large, brown leather couches and a fire place that was spitting flames quietly. She perched herself on the edge of the smaller one, and then waited for us to sit as well. I did, and looked up expectantly at Mira to do the same. But she ignored me, and remained standing, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Mrs. Goodwin, do you know if Melinda had any enemies? People she'd not particularly gotten along with recently?"

Her eye brows pulled together in concentration for a moment, before she shook her head. "No, none of that I know of."

"Are you sure?"

"Well," Mrs. Goodwin touched a hand to her lips, and hesitated before continuing. "There was.. but he couldn't have done-"

"It's helps if we know everything, please."

"She'd just broken up with her boyfriend, Brian, a senior that she was crazy about." For a moment, Mrs. Goodwin's eyes grew vacant as she spoke, staring at something neither Mira or I could see. "They were such a nice couple, too, always spending the weekends together and calling each other until four in the morning. But Melinda decided that they would be better off as friends. After she told him, he became very distraught, you know," she raised her eye brows and looked at me wearily, "calling the house, threatening Melinda, that sort of thing. I don't think it could have been him, officers. He was always a kind boy."

I got to my feet, already positive we'd found our werewolf. "Thank you, Mrs. Goodwin. Can we have Brian's address?"

* * *

><p>Outside, I wasn't prepared to be faced with another cop, having pulled up beside our truck at the Goodwin's house. He was an older man, maybe in his early thirties, wearing a dark expression as he moved towards us. He wasn't as full as Dean was, but he was tall, and I felt slightly intimidated as he stalked over to us and them loomed over our shorter frames. Although he was making me uncomfortable, I did my best not to let it show. A real FBI agent wouldn't cower away from a police officer, no matter how muscled, and angry. I managed to stand my grow confidently as he reached us.<p>

"What are you _girls _doing here?"

"Invesitgating the death of Melinda-" Mira began, looking slightly taken aback from his confrontational actions. She wasn't able to finish though, as the officer had cut her off sharply.

"Yeah, no shit. I mean, what are two litle girls doing investigating a murder case?"

I almost expected to hear Ash's snappy remark about being prejudiced, and for him to "let us do our fucking job" while he did his. But she wasn't there. Doing my best ot ignore the pinch in my heart, I cleared my through, and reached for my badge out of the breast pocket of my blouse. "We're federal agents, sir, and I don't appreciate your tone of voice."

"So you wouldn't mind if I called your supervisor, then?"

I could feel Mira rummaging through her purse for Bobby's number, and I was about to give the officer a smug smile when I remembered that Bobby was in the Dominican. Shit. Would Sam and Dean still be at his house to answer the phone? Once Mira managed to find the card Bobby had given us the last time we had seen him, I felt my argument sticking in my throat. How professional, let alone legitamate, would we look if I were to tell him not to call our supervisor, because he so happens to be in the Dominican?

"Here." Mira handed it off to the officer, who took it rather focefull with an amused look.

"This ought to be good."

I held my breath as he got out his cell phone, and began to dial, his eyes narrowed into slits at us as he held it against his ear while it rang. Just as I was getting ready to try out a lame excuse I'd come up with on the spot as to why our supervisor wasn't answering, the officer straightened his broad shoulders suddenly.

"Yes, this is officer Clarke of the Chicago police force? I'm here with two of your," his lips twitched slightly as he gave Mira and I another once over with his eyes. "_agents_. Care to confirm an Agent Benetar and Agent Young as under your supervision?"

He waited for a moment as whoever was on the other line was speaking. The entire time, his eyes did not leave us, but I noticed that he wasn't looking pleased from what he was hearing. "Yes." he said finally, and sounding very reluctant to do so. "Yes, I apologize for taking up your time. Thank you, Agent Coop."

Coop...That was Dean.

I almost wanted to ask him to let me talk to him, but that officer looked like he wasn't in the mood for favours.

As soon as he hung up, the man was flicking the card back to us with a sour face. "Looks like you're right where you need to be. I can't believe how lax the agency is getting, recruiting all of these little girls." He was giving us such a disgusted look that I really, _really _wished that Ash was there to give him a piece of her mind, and then some.

Without saying any more, he brushed past us and headed up the stairs. For a moment, I wondered whether we should have followed him; a big, intimidating officer like himself wasn't exactly what Mrs. Goodwin needed at the moment. But we had to go and see Melinda's boyfriend, and I wanted to get that done quickly before he deicded to murder anyone else. So reluctantly, I turned my back on the stocky officer, and began back towards the truck where Mira had retreated to after he'd left.

"Thick headed guys like him just piss me off." I muttered once I reached her, and gave an annoyed shake of my head as I opened up the driver's door. "They think that just because we're girls that we can't be in the FBI."

Mira climbed in, her foreheaad puckered and jaw taught. "We _aren't _in the FBI, Lily."

Although she had a point, I knew that wasn't why she was so annoyed with me. There was something else, something I wans't able to understand fully. I could have spent the car ride to Brian Patterson's house tring to decode her actions and facial expressions. But I was becoming so restless to find out what exactly was pissing her off that I just turned to her right on. "Mira, have I done something recently to you, or said something to make you act this way?"

She gave an annoyed huff, and twisted her torso away from me stubborningly. "Just drop it."

"No, I want to know. I think I have the right to know, actually."

"You honestly have no idea?_._" suddenly, she was facing me again, showing me how angry she really was. "I mean, it's not some case you have to figure out, Lily. I'm not giving you a million and one clues to piece together."

"I know you aren't! So it would be great if you'd help me out and just tell me already! Is it because I was talking about Dean this morning?

Mira threw her hands up in the air, startling me. "Jesus Christ, Lily! Why don't you understand? It's not _because _you were talking about him, it's because he's all you ever want to talk about! Everytime we're together, you're complaining about him and his flirting, or his mixed signals, or how _great _it is to have someone like Dean! Well what about me? I'd like to talk about how I feel once in a while, to let it all out like you do, but you never give me the chance! It's _always _about Dean and I'm getting so sick of hearing how fantastic your love life is while mine is...is..." she struggled to find the right word before sputtering out bluntly, "shit!"

I was stunned into silence. Once upon a time, I was positive that there was nothing that could surprise me about my sisters. I thought I knew everything there was to know about them, and anything else was just new. But Ash had betrayed us, and Mira had kept all of these feelings bottled inside out of unessisary curtosy towards me. I didn't expect either of those things. So how well did I _really _know my sisters?

"Mira," I began, despite the fact I wasn't sure what to say. But she held up her hand, silencing me with a sigh.

"Forget it, Lily. I'm...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"You had every right to. I haven't been very considerate of your feelings lately, and I'm sorry."

"I know. I just kind of wish Ash was here. She could relate."

Mira was silent again after that, staring out the window with a sad expression. I could tell she was no longer mad at me, that she'd said everything she wanted to, but there was a part of me that knew this was only the beginning. Just saying that she wanted Ash opened up a whole new door for us, and I could already feel myself wishing she was, too. It wasn't easy being without her when we weren't thinking about her, but know that we were, things were going to get so much harder.

**A/N: Hey, FinnHudsonxoxo here. I just wanted to apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors anyone finds in the chapters. I know it's a little late into the fanfiction, but I just I needed to explain myself so that people didn't think these mistakes were careless... Or maybe they are. Judge for yourself after my explination: **

**So every night until about, oh, 3am, RainbowTurkeyOfDoom and I are online together, writing these chapters. Since it's late, my lights are off, and I turn down my computer brightness as to not wake up anybody with it :S ANYWAY, because of all of that, it's kind of hard to see the keyboard, so I slip up and don't notice. I'm also using WordPad instead of, say, MicrosoftWord, only because it makes the chapters easier to upload. That being said, WordPad doesn't have spell check, so I don't see my spelling mistakes... **

**There you go. There's my pathetic excuse for the spelling errors like "adn" and "abck" and the most common one I found, "thingkin". **


	26. Twenty Six Lily

26. Lily

We arrived at Brian's house later that day, while the sky was noticably darkening and the wind had picked up into a sharp chilly whiplash against our skin. Mira had obviously forgiven me, and I could tell were were on better terms when we parked, because she began discussing the interview up ahead. Neither of us knew what to expect while talking to Brian, but since he was a werewolf, I knew we would have to tread lightly with our questioning. Which meant that Mira was going to be doing all of the talking.

A large, burly looking man answered the door with a hard expresion, his unusually tight eyes darting between Mira and I. He reached up one hand to scratch at his thick beard, and as he did this, I tried to swallow the nervous lump that had risen inside of my throat. "Hi," I said, stepping towards him. "I'm Agent Harrington, and this is my partner, Agent Collins. We were wondering if we could have a few minutes with Brian?" I took a chance at assuming this wasn't him who had answered, because deep down I was sincerely hoping that it had't been him. To my great relief, the man stepped back away from the door, and hollared to someone behind him that Brian had a vistor.

There was the sound of a gentle murmuring in the background, terribly quiet in comparison to this man's loud, gruff voice, and then he turned back to us, moving to the side so we could enter his home. "Brian's upstairs in his room. Y'all can go right on up." He watched Mira and I as we entered, looking generally curious and, almost suspicous as to why two agents were knocking on his door, wanting to talk to his son. When we started up the short wooden stair case that was to the left of the small foyer, he called after us, "He hasn't done anything, has he?"

Despite his rough exterior, this was obviously a man who cared about his son, and judging from the way his eyes had softened, waiting for our answer, I could tell he wasn't wanting to hear anything bad. So, I just nudged Mira who was a step ahead of me on the stairs, and she turned around to give him a reassuring smile. "That's what we're here to find out."

Upstairs, we were met with a short, dark hallway with not a single window in sight. Mira exchanged a nervous expression with me, and I noticed her hand was hovvering beside her jean's waist band where her hand gun was hidden. I would have done the same, but after looking back down the stairs and seeing Mr. Patterson watching us with the same, worried expression, I decided it wasn't necissary, not right now, and shook my head at Mira for her not to bother either.

I was about to ask her which door she thought we should open first, since none of them were standing out, when a strange sound emitted from the one closest to us. It was an odd sound, and definitely and unexpected one. When I looked at Mira, her eyes were wide, having recognized it at the same time I did. It was a whimpering, almost like a dog.

Or, a wolf.

Pressing a finger over my lips, I began quietly towards the door, grabbing for my gun.

The sound continued, that same whimpering moan coming from the room. I looked back at Mira quickly as I neared it, giving vague motions with my free hand that signalled her to stay back as I opened the door. She nodded once, and I heard a slightly muted click as she muffled the cocking of her gun in the sleeve of her shirt, no doubt trying not to let the parents down stairs hear her.

"Brian?" I asked tentatively, closing my hand around the door knob. "Are you-"

"I told you to leave me alone!"

I wasn't expecting that tone of voice. Whoever was in there, if it was Brian, was sounding very upset. Casting Mira a confused look, I threw open the door, and took a step inside the dark room. Not much was visible, since the curtains were drawn and the only source of light was from a flickering television set in the far corner. What I could see, though, was a teenage boy lying face down on the bed, his legs hanging over the end as he buried his face in his pillow.

"Er, hi." Mira came in the room behind me, frowning at the tall figure who was sobbing. "I'm Agent Collins, and this is Agent Harring-"

"I don't care who you are! Just get out!"

Mira looked taken aback, but she persisted, moving even closer to the bed with gentle, cautious motions. "Brian, can you please talk to us, just for a minute?" I inhaled sharply as she reached out a hand to touch his shoulder blade, and then bit back my natural instinct of telling her not to. Despite the reason we were there, I wasn't able to see a werewolf anywhere. All I could see was a teenage boy, breaking into a million little pieces before us.

When Mira's fingers brushed his shoulder, he rolled onto his side, giving us a full view of his tear stained face, pinched eye brows, and quivering lips. He looked shocked to see two women in his room, which you can read anyway you want, but there was no glint of interest or amusement in his eyes. There was just a pathetic sadness that made him look years older than I'm sure he was. As Mira tried her best to comfort him from a relative distance, his shoulders continued to shake, but I noticed he was calming down slightly in the presence of two FBI agents.

"So," I said, "Can you tell us what you were doing the night of Melinda's death?"

That was all it took, really.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Brian's face crumpled, and he covered it with his hands as his body racked with sobs. "Oh God, Melinda! I'm sorry!" he cried out, surprising Mira a few steps backwards. "I'm sorry about what I said to you!"

"What did you say?" I asked, only to be drowned out by more of his muffled cries.

Mira touched his shoulder again, letting her hand rest there for longer than necissary. "Please, Brian. What did you say to Melinda?"

He was still sobbing into his hands, looking so much unlike a teenage boy, let alone a masochistic were-wolf. "Melinda broke up with me one day," Brian said through his trembles, slowly raising his face so that he and Mira were looking eye-to-eye. "She said I was too emotional. But without her, I'm nothing...and I called her house, reading my favourite lines from an Edgar Allen Blackheart Raven peom about a double suicide because I love her so much! And then that night...she...she..." he broke off before finishing and let his face drop again, letting out a pained howl.

I looked at Mira, and from the way she was rubbing at her eyes, I could tell that we were both thinking the same thing. There was no case here. All we had was a teenage boy, a softie, who was mourning the loss of his dead ex-girlfriend.

"Thank you for your time." Mira began towards the door where I was already turning around, heading back into the hallway. Brian didn't respond, and when the door was shut, Mira gave me a long look. "It wasn't him, Lily. You see it too."

"Yeah I know." we walked side by side down the stair case, and I gave a reaussring smile and nod at Brian's father, who had been looming at the bottom, watching our descent. "Don't worry, sir. Your son isn't in any trouble at all. Thank you for your time."

* * *

><p>Back at the hotel, Mira was sitting extremely quietly on her bed, staring with hard eyes at the wall across from her. I had my laptop out, resting on my laptop while the fan silent whirled, but I had no idea what to search. We knew Brian wasn't the werewolf, so what was I supposed to look up? There was no research to be done, now. From here on it was going to take us putting our minds together, thinking hard, and most importantly, staying on task-<p>

"I think we should call her." Mira suddenly said, and when I looked at her, she was staring back at me confidently.

"You really think she'll pick up?"

Tentatively, Mira tucked some of her hair behind her ear, and shrugged helplessly. "No, but it's worth a shot."

As afraid as I was about talking to her again, I felt something inside of me jump at the idea of it, and without argument, I grabbed for the cheap plastic hotel phone, and dialed Ash's cell phone number. While it rang, I anxiously twirled the cord around my finger, praying she would pick up. How much of an ego bruise would it be if she just sent me right to voice mail? That was something we told each other we would never do, not just because it could be an emergency, but because we were sisters, and sisters don't do that to each other, ever.

In the weeks being without her, I'd had some time to think about what she had done. Yeah, she screwed up. And we were going to be hard pressed to trust her when Angels were involved. I knew, especially, it was going to take some time to get back on Sam, Bobby, and especially Dean's good side. But, I also knew that one mistake shouldn't exile her forever, at least not from Mira and I. We'd gone through too much together just to let one of us slip away like that, right from our , I was worried sick. She drank heavily on a regular basis, despite my pleas for her not to, but how would she be during this period?

On the fifth ring, I got her voice mail.

"This is... you know who this is. I'm fucking busy, call-" there was a pause, some noises in the background including a car horn honking, and then she spat into the speaker, "-me later."

As I slowly place the phone back into its cradle, I exhaled slowly, feeling a head ache coming on. "Judging from the machine, she's doing wonderfully without us." Mira looked up when I said this, and I could see how worried she was.

"What makes you say that?"

"She's driving, which probably means she's already got a new case. Plus," I looked back at the phone again, my eye brows bunching together. "I could have sworn I heard someone else in the background, but I can't be sure."

Mira frowned. "Like, a guy?"

"Sounded like it."

Laying down on my bed, I fidgeted slightly, thinking about Ash. Where was she, and what was she doing? Had she already found people to replace us? It hurt to wonder, that last part, so I turned on my side, and tried my best to clear my mind of all thoughts of her. But it was useless, because Ash plagued my thoughts with all the questions I had. The most important one, though, was if she was alright. It was killing me, not knowing.

The television, which we had left flickering on low volume in front of us suddenly changed from a late 90's sticom into an urgent news bulletin. Sitting up again, I grabbed for the remote and quickly turned up the sound as a woman with a solemn expression spoke:

"...have just confirmed the cause of death for Melinda Goodwin, the young woman who was murdered several days ago. Police have released the name to Jeremy Roth, a homeless man living in the area who is arrested for the murder and cannibalism of the young girl." The woman noticeably shuddered before continuing, turning her face to a different camera so to add to the seriousness of the report. "The murder weapon has been confirmed to be a chinese chef's knife, more specifically a santoku-type, which police say the man must have gotten from a dumpster outside of a restaruant, as the blade was dull, but efficient enough for a sloppy murder. More on this, and other news, at eleven thirty."

I waited until the sitcom had returned to the screen before flipping the television off, stunned into silence. On her own bed, Mira had sat up as well to watch the news, ands looked equally speechless, shaking her head slowly.

"It...it wasn't a werewolf." I whispered.

"But how?"

I thought back to the morgue when we had examined Melinda's body. It seemed for sure like the job of a were wolf, but maybe we'd over looked something, like jagged edges on the cuts. I just couldn't believe that we had mistaken the job of a cannabalistic homeless man with a chef's knife to be a werewolf. Something was up. Mira and I definitely were never that careless.

Almost immediately, I knew what the problem was.

We were missing a vital piece to our group.

To put it simply, we were a tricycle missing a wheel, if that makes any sense. Without Ash, Mira and I weren't as efficient as we could be. I just wondered if the same was happening with her, wherever she was. Was she finding it hard to work a case without us, as well?

Just then, the phone rang. Startled, I grabbed for it, and pressed it against my ear in the hopes that it would be her. "Hello, Ash?"

"Sorry, no. Are you a friend of...Ozzy Rose?" I didn't recognize the nervous female voice on the other end, but I _did _recognize the name she gave. I would have laughed, too, if I wasn't worried about Ash. She was getting lazier with the names.

"Yes," I answered, and then paused, feeling sick. "Who are you? Has...has something happened?"

"I'm nurse Graham at St. Alindale's Civic hospital, and I have you friend, erm, Ozzy here." the woman paused, and I heard her muffling the reciever of the phone to talk to someone briefly before coming back on again. "Sorry about that. Anyway, she's here, and told me you were her emergency contact. I need you to come down here immediately."

**A/N: Hey, FinnHudsonxoxo here. So, this is our first update in...oh, about a month and a half, so yeah, it's kind of short. But the others will-SHOULD- be longer, so don't go thinking we're slowing down on the writing length or anything. Alright, so I think that's all I have to say about it. Enjoy the chapter, and should be up soon...ish? :) thanks for reading!**


	27. Twenty Seven Ash

27. Ash

If my old therapist pal Timothy was still trying to figure me out, I can just bet what I did would have made him throw out his certificate and call it quits. Because no one, not even a professional, would be able to decode the mystery that is my actions. He could have spent hours, days even, staring at me through those thin glasses of his with the same, tight lipped expression, and come up with nothing. Even I wasn't one hundred percent sure why I sold out Anna, although somewhere in the back of my mind, I had a good guess. But Timothy would be the last person I would admit that to.

As I drove away from the Oak Feild, and away from all of my so-called friends, I felt betrayed more than anything. Sure, I'd been the one to sell Anna out. All it had taken was closing my eyes, and whispering his name and suddenly there he was, standing in front of me. I'd done it the night before we went looking for Anna's grace, when everyone was asleep and I was able to slip out of Bobby's house. It was an interesting expirience, actually, talking one-on-one with Castiel underneath the black sky without anyone or anything to bother us. But I was good to remain serious, focusing on the task at hand despite how nervous I had become with his presence.

In the end, I made him promise to keep Anna alive, because I knew I would never be forgiven if it were my fault she was killed, and then I told him where she was going to be the next day. Dean had decided that we would wait until the sun was fully up in the morning to go to some Oak Feild in Kentucky, and so when I passed this information on to Castiel, I felt confident that he would not show up to an empty location. That would have been really humiliating.

At the time, I remember being so confident, so sure that what I was doing was the right thing. I mean, they _were _God's orders, right? Besides, Anna was going to be captured eventually with or without my help; she had Angels after her, and although I was still wasn't completely sure of their morals, I knew in my heart, for Castiel especially, that they were just following God's orders, like I was. So even if I hadn't been the one to tip them off, I was sure that I wouldn't have reacted the way the others did when she was taken away.

God, they all got so mad.

My hands curled into clenched fists on the wheel as I recalled their faces, all of their faces. Not one of them were on my side. Even my own sisters had sided with the Winchesters, chosing a guy over me. _Me_! When have I ever done that to them? Besides, I've supported them through every up and down that they've had from being involved with Sam and Dean, and this is how they repay me. Well, I guess that just goes to show how good of friends they were in the first place. Mira was right; we weren't really sisters, and maybe we weren't really friends, either.

Sighing, I brought one hand up to touch my face, feeling a slight pounding above my right eye brow. I needed to calm down.

But there was so many things to think about, the main one being where the hell I was heading. I obviously couldn't go back to Bobby's, since I knew they would be there, and staying in town wasn't an option, either. It hurt too much to be even _that _close to them. So for the time being, I guessed that I would just drive until I feel like I was far enough away.

Four songs into the Bon Jovi tape I'd stuck into the player, I remembered that my voice mail on my phone included Mira and Lily talking in the background. It may have been childish of me, but I was really angry, even then, and so slowing down my speed slightly, I reached into my jean's pocket, and brought out my cell phone. Immediately, I thought of Lily, and how she would scold me for using my phone while I was driving. But I brushed that thought away as I flipped it open. She wasn't here now anyway.

"Record your message after the tone." the automated voice instructed, and I waited a moment before hearing a single beep.

"This is..." I stopped, realising that anyone who would be calling me would obviously know who it was. Besides, whenever I called someone and got their answering machine, telling me I'd succesfully reached the person I knew I was calling, I always got mad and then they got a voicemail of me calling them an idiot. So maybe that wasn't the way to go with my own recording.

"You know who this is." I continued harshly. "I'm fucking busy. Call-"

"Hello Ashley."

I nearly swerved into the shoulder of the road, and cursed as I struggled to get back into my own lane before the asshole behind me could honk again. Beside me, Castiel had appeared so quietly, so secretly that I didn't even notice his arrival. That made me wonder how long, exactly that he'd been sitting there. But it couldn't have been long, because I was only just beginning to feel his presence, like my skin was being pressed with something warm all over.

"-me later." I finished quickly, before closing my phone and tossing it into the cupholder between us. As soon as I was cruising on the flat highway, I turned in my seat slightly so I was facing him. He looked the exact same as he always did; stoic, with the usual, curious head tilt and furrowed brow expression that he was generally wearing when around anyone.

"Hi." He said calmly, letting his eyes roam the interior of the van before settling them on me. "I hope this isn't a bad time."

Reluctantly, I returned my gaze to the road, and tried not to think about the fact that he was staring at me. Right at me. Like he was examining me. "Cas, what are you doing?"

"I just came to thank you for-"

"Alienating myself from my friends?" I interjected with a harsher tone than intended. Castiel's mouth opened, and then shut again as he fell into silence. "Don't thank me, okay? Please don't."

When he didn't speak again, I figured he had left. But after stealing a quick glance out the corner of my eye, I felt slightly relieved to see that he had remained seated next to me, his eyes on his lap and brows knit together curiously. I sighed, and then pulled into the shoulder of the road, turning off the van completely before looking at Castiel.

"It was God's orders, right? So it had to be righteous, if it was from him. I just need to be sure that it _was _Him asking for Anna."

Castiel suddenly looked uncomfortable, looking at me, and then away again, swallowing more than usual. I began to feel panicked.

"They...they _were_ God's orders." I verified weakly. "Right?"

"We get the orders from other Angels." Casitel began slowly, almost looked like he was regretting ever joining me in the van. His hands were wrung together tightly, and he studiously avoided my gaze. "No one has actually had direct contact with him for a while, but in all probability-"

"Cas." I interupted him, trying to stop the trembling in my voice. But I was so goddamn nervous. "She did something wrong to fall from Heaven, right? Something bad?"

This he looked sure of. "Yes, yes she did."

"Okay." I exhaled through my lips slowly, letting my lungs empty fully to calm myself. "Okay, good."

"Is it alright if I thank you now for handing Anna over to us?"

"Can you just...sit here for a second, Cas?" I looked at him pleadingly, so sick of all of this 'Anna' talk. "Just sit right there and enjoy the view or something."

He frowned at me, but I noticed him settling into the seat slightly as he turned his face towards the window, just as a transport truck drove by on the road. Startling from the noise, Castiel returned his attention to me, wearing a confused expression. "I...I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking at."

"Never mind." God, this was harder than it should have been.

"Ashley-"

"We did the right thing." I cut him off yet again, staring with a hard expression out the windsheild. "Can you tell me that we did the right thing?"

There was no response.

When I looked beside me, my shoulders slumped, and I felt something pinching in my chest. Cas was gone.

* * *

><p>A little ways outside of New York, I found the first hotel for miles. It was quite pricey, and although I was running low on cash, I didn't feel like driving any further. I was ready to call it quits for the night. And besides, just that morning Lily had told me specifically to fill the van with gas but I'd ignored her, worrying too much about what was going to happen that afternoon with Anna. By the time I pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, the gauge was teetering on "good for one more mile" and "you're going to break down in the middle of the highway". So really, I had no choice but to crash.<p>

As soon as I had a room, I dropped my bags onto the ground by the door, and suddenly felt very alone. For as long as I'd been hunting, I'd never been by myself; it was like an unspoken rule amongst hunters to travel in pairs, or groups. Of course when I first started, I figured I'd be on my own the entire time, but I hadn't anticipated crossing paths with Lily, and then us finding our way to Mira. Since then, I'd grown very used to their company. Now to have a large hotel room to myself, the emptiness was so very apparent.

Collapsing onto the single bed, I stared up at the ceiling, letting my limbs hang loose over the edges of the mattress.

"Castiel?" I whispered, and then waited for a moment, listening to the silence. "Cas?"

I hadn't really been expecting him to appear right then and there. He wasn't, after all, placed on earth to keep my company. But it really would have been nice to have at least one other person in the room, even if that other person was a socially awkward angel. Giving a tired sigh, I lolled my head to the left, and glanced at the digital clock set up on the bedside table. It flashed 11:30pm. I generally stayed up late, but at that moment, there wasn't anything left in me. I felt so deflated, so tired, that before I even got changed, I was falling asleep on top of the bed covers.

Despite how tired I was, I woke up early morning, and wasn't able to fall back into sleep. I could have laid in bed for a few hours, at least until the sun rose, but I was already fully awake, and felt like getting out of the hotel room. It wasn't so much the room, I guess, rather the fact that there was no one in there except for me. Seeing actual people, although I wasn't generally fond of them, might help ease my nerves slightly.

I kicked off the uncomfortable hotel sheets that I'd somehow cacooned myself into during the night, and stood up. There was no sunlight coming in through the wide window across the room from me, but I could see that the sky had turned from black to a hazy blue, signalling that a sunrise was on its way. I didn't know if anything in walking distance would be open at 5am, but it was worth checking out if it meant being around actual people, and not having the fill the silence with an angel's name.

Outside the hotel, the street was practically empty except for the odd car that cruised by on its way to an early morning job. There was no one on the sidewalk, which I was slightly disappointed about, but there really wasn't much I could do in terms of forcing people to socialize around me, and help me not feel like such a loner. Half way down the street, after passing darkened shops and empty alcoves, I considered saying Castiel's name again. But a quick mental slap rid me of those thoughts. God, how pathetic could I get?

By the time I found a cafe that wasn't closed, the sun had already begun to peak over the horizon, and more people were showing up on the sidewalk. Although it wasn't central New York, (more like the small shops that bordered it) there was still a fair amount of pedestrians who passed by me on their hurried route to work, or wherever they felt like going at...6:54am. I began to relax slightly, and when I found the cafe, I'd been walking with my shoulders back and head high, just like I usually would. Never would I have thought a crowded place would be what I needed to calm down.

It was a small cafe, with only about half a dozen tables set up to make room for the counter that bulged out from the wall. I nodded at the tired looking waiter who leaned up against the coffee grinder and gave a barely recognizable jerk of his chin back. Of course the cafe was empty, except for me and the young guy yawning into the muffins, but I was still feeling at ease as I sat down at one of the tables. On it, someone had left a folded up newspaper from the day before. Curiously, I opened it, and scanned the obituaries for anything suspicious.

"Coffee?" The waiter was suddenly standing beside me with a steaming pot in one hand, the other resting on his hip.

I lowered the paper slowly, having found nothing out of the ordinary, and then shrugged. "Sure."

As he poured, I cleared my throat, and tried another angle at finding a case. "So, this is a pretty quiet part of town, huh?" He was pouring the coffee slowly, but didn't look like he was entirely in the mood for a conversation; in response to my question, he gave a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. I probably should have given up trying to communicate with him, but I was desperate for a case to get my mind off things. So I continued. "I bet you don't get many weird sightings, or deaths up here."

He raised his eye brows, straightening up and away from my table. "I don't watch the news."

"Well, have you heard anything from anyone?"

"Are you a reporter, or something?" the young man was giving me a suspicious look, and it was growing increasingly difficult not to lose my patience. Not only was he completely reading this all wrong, but he was also ruining my relaxing attitude I had going. "If you're a reporter, anything I say is off-record." He held his hand up with a flourish, and then let it fall against his hip again. "I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten in trouble with my manager about giving false information to the press. First there was the mouse thing, then the insect thing..." he trailed off slowly, and frowned. "Wait, did my manager murder somebody?"

I was already totally regretting trying to talk to this kid. "No, no he didn't. I'm asking you if there's _been _any murders lately, or anything weird, out of the ordinary?"

"I knew he was a sketchy old man." the waiter wasn't even listening to me anymore, his eyes set on the wall across the cafe with a dawned expression. "I mean, he was always threating the customers who didn't tip, and there was that one time that he chased a twelve year old boy out of the place just because he poured the sugar into the salt shaker-"

"I think I'm done here." Standing up, I tossed a five dollar bill onto the table, desperate to get out of there quickly. "Thanks for the coffee."

* * *

><p>I spent almost two weeks in that part of town, trying to come up with anything remotely close to a case, but I found nothing. This place I'd decided to spend a few nights in was absolutely clean. There weren't even any thefts, or break in's. I suppose to anyone else, this would have been a dream town to live in, but I wasn't looking for picture-perfect. I wanted a challenge, something that would help me forget all that I had been through recently. But I guessed it wasn't going to happen here.<p>

I had two choices; leave sober and pissed, or leave drunk and calmed.

The choice was easy.

Just after noon, I found a bar right near my hotel that was slightly dingy looking, but so were the rest of the shops lining the street. Besides, I wasn't one to judge; just as long as I could get a goddamn drink into me before I exploded, I'd be fine. And maybe I'd finally find my case while inside. Or, maybe not. Whatever. At least I'd be back with my alcohol and not having to drink punk-ass soda.

Inside, there were a few people looming around the counter, one man slumped over completely and wearing a dark brown suit. I wasn't one for quick judgement on people, but I could bet that he hadn't had the greatest morning, and decided alcohol was going to be his saviour.

Wait. Wasn't that what I was doing, too?

"Hey, how's it going?" I took a seat on the stool beside him and gave his arm a nudge. When he did move, I shrugged, and looked at the bartender who'd been watching me curiously since I entered. "Give me the strongest shots you've got." I slapped a hundred dollar bill onto the counter, and stared at it for a moment before pushing it towards the man serving me happiness. "That should cover it for now." Any other day, I would have had little sober Lily perched on a stool beside me, lecturing me on how it would have been smart to save that hundred dollars for "an emergency". Well, our ideas of "an emergency" obviously differed greatly.

As my shots were set up in front of me, I forgot all about looking for a case, and focused on the task at hand. Forgetting everything.

Shot number one: I tipped it back against my lips, and thought about when Lily and I had met. I'd been 19 at the time, newly on my own, and so maybe that was why we paired up. Or, it could have been because she was exactly what I needed; another hunter who was willing to do all of the online researching, and reading ancient books while I focused on shooting, cutting, and burning. "Here's to you, Lily." I squeezed my eyes shut, and poured the liquid down my throat, enjoying the burn it left.

Shot number two: I thought about Mira when I picked up the second glass, and paused, staring at the brown liquid with narrowed eyes. Lily and I had met her while working a demon case in her general area, and got there just in time to save her from one. I don't quite remember how she ended up joining our team, but it was most likely because she really didn't have anywhere else to go; those sonsofbitches murdered her entire family, pets and all. She was the group median, the one who kept Lily and I -though mostly me- morally grounded, and the one who used her special charm on anyone who needed a dose of it. "Here's to you, Mira." as I drank the shot, I smiled slightly, already feeling a buzz coming on.

Shot number three: Castiel. As soon as I even reached for the third shot glass, I pictured him in my head, giving me that confused look of his, paired with that tilt that made my heart speed up and hands grow damp. I didn't know much about the guy...er, Angel, but I knew enough to know that he was the closest thing to a friend I had at the moment. He was the only one who wasn't absolutely pissed at me for selling out Anna, and he was the one who showed up in the van to comfort me (in the only way he really knows how to; by talking) when I was upset. For that, I gave a silent toast in the air, deciding not to say his name for the unlikely chance he may appear before me, and then drank it.

The rest of the shots were hazy blurs of slurred words to no one, and nearly falling off of my stool sixteen times. I knew I was drunk, because really, it's not a great big mystery to solve, but I wasn't nearly ready to stop yet. I just kept pushing the bills over the counter, and tipping the drinks down my throat. I think somewhere in the middle of my fifth round, I began telling the drunken heap of a man next to me my life story, not even expecting him to respond to anything. It was just sort of nice to complain to someone, and not have them give me some bullshit answer. If the man was Timothy, I would have been recieving a nice long lecture about who-knows-what.

Before I could realise what I was doing, I'd begun explaining the past few days events in as best detail as my drunken mind could manage. I'm not entirely sure what I told the passed out man, but I had a good guess, because I distinctly remember being confused at this feeling that had begun to pulse through me when I started talking about Anna. It wasn't embarrassment, or lonliness, or anger... actually yes, but not as much as it usually would have been. It took a minute, but I finally recognized it as guilt.

I'd never really felt guilty for my actions before, and now that I did, I wasn't sure what to do, or how to handle it. It might have been because I could only blame myself, my own choices, my own damn thoughts and misleading assumptions. For the first time in awhile, I couldn't think of anyone who I could blame, or who could at least share the unfortunate title with me. I was on my own for this one. And it sucked.

"W-why did I try so..._so _hard t'please him?" I put my hand on the drunken man's slumped shoulder, and sighed. "'Donneven ask."

Although my drunken slur wasn't exactly making much sense to anyone, let alone myself, I knew in the back of my mind that I was avoiding the truth. Lord knows it wasn't Uriel I was trying to impress. But the real quesiton that was eating at me was why. Why the hell did I feel the need to impress one goddamn angel so much that I would risk alienation from my friends? Was this my reward, getting drunk in a bar and spilling my guts to an unconscious man?

Well, maybe I did it because Castiel was different. He was the only person who never judged me, who's opinion didn't seem to be tainted, just yet, by who I really am. I guess for once, I just wanted to be someone else, someone who he actually liked, and didn't see as some deranged, carnage hungry, bitchy maniac who had a bit of a drinking problem.

I don't remember what happened after that at all. I could have reached for another shot, or if I was running low, paid for another round, but the next thing I knew, I was feeling a hundred pounds heavier, and realised that I was no longer sitting, but laying down. It took a minute, especially since I had to adjust my eyes to the bright lights over head, and although I still wasn't sure of where exactly I was, I knew for certain the building I was in. So here's the hundred dollar quesiton: what the hell was I doing in a hospital bed, with Mira and Lily standing around me?

"Hi." I said, because what else could I have really said at that moment?

Neither of them spoke, and as I struggled to sit up, I collapsed back into the mess of pillows behind my head, feeling nauseaus, and as if someone had hit me over the head with a fire extinguisher. Looking up at Lily and Mira, I could feel my hard exterior melting into that of helpless confusion. There were so many quesitons running through my mind, like why they were there, or how I get there, too. But the biggest one was the one I voiced, hoping they'd give it to me straight.

"What the _hell _happened to me?"

Mira exchanged an uneasy look with Lily before she cleared her throat, and tried to speak calmly, although her voice was trembling noticably. "You got really drunk, Ash, and had a seizure from alcohol poisoning. You weren't breathing when you got here. I guess you almost fell into acoma." as she spoke, I felt the bar and it's events rushing upt to me, and suddenly I remembered as much as I needed to, which was the shots I drowned myself in.

"Are you serious?' I asked, and when they both gave grim nods, I exhaled. "That's pretty pathetic, actually; a hunter dying not at the hands of some all powerful demon, but from something that comes in breakable glass." Although I was laughing, the expressions on their faces were deadpan, and slowly my laughter died into a nervous chuckle. "Oh come on guys, lighten up. I didn't die, right? That's a plus."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "How is this even remotely funny, Ash? We've been warning you for years that something like this would happen."

I was getting ready to retort, although I wasn't entirely ready with a good one, when an older nurse came into the room, and smiled warmly at me as she grabbed for my arm. On any other day, in any other circumstance, I would have yanked it away. But her lifting it was the first real movement I'd expirienced in what felt like years, and I wasn't about to try and match that with a pathetic jerk. So instead, I reluctantly let her examine the IV drip I'd only just noticed was attatced to my arm, and listened as she began to speak slowly, like I'd really been hit over the head with an extinguisher, only multiple times.

"Now Miss Rose, you're going to be just fine." She gently lowered my arm again and patted it with a wide smile spread across her wrinkled face. "You might need to take a few weeks off for recovery, and you'll need lots of rest, but you'll be right as rain soon enough. I suppose you don't remember what happened, do you?" I gave a feeble shake of my head, and she picked up a clipboard that hand been hanging on the rail at the end of my bed. "Your liver took a real beating, honey, but it's healing at an excellent rate. Now, what the doctor has strongly recommended, is that you can't, under any circumstances, ever drink that much again. He's also suggested you cleanse for at least six months, and attend AA meetings regularly to help cope with your addiction."

I could help but let out a bark of laughter at that. "Addiciton? I'm not addicted. I just went on a binge, that's all."

The nurse looked accusingly skeptical. "Have you ever thrown up from alcohol before this? How many drinks do you consume in a week? More than you should, I'm guessing."

"I guess you can go ahead and forget everything I said since you've got your own little assumptions going." I ran a hand through my hair tiredly, feeling the heavy resitance in my joints as I did so. Despite my attitude, I really wasn't in the mood to argue with a nurse. So rather than wait for her own snappy comeback, I looked up at her face, and shook my head in confusion. "How did you know to call them?"

"Oh, you told me." she turned on her heels without another word, and left the room.

As soon as we were alone, I could feel Mira and Lily watching me, waiting for me to say something. I said the first things that came to mind. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for worrying you, for getting you into this mess with me, and for what happened with Anna." I raised my eye brows as I briefly remembered that day, and corrected myself. "I'm _really _sorry about that one."

"Yeah, well, you screwed up." Mira sighed, and then she fell silent, looking down at her shoes. I knew exactly why, and I didn't blame her for still being upset. She'd sympathized with Anna because of ehr past, and what happened to her parents. I may not have understood what that felt like, but I understood perfectly well that I'd managed to take away the one person Mira could relate to. Wonderful.

"I've learned my lesson, guys. I can't be so willing to...to please certain people. I need to trust you guys more. I'm sorry." I added for good measure.

Lily, who'd remained quiet most of the visit, sighed, and then moved towards my bed, shrugging. "I forgive you, _we _forgive you. I don't know if Dean will, but we do, okay?" she gave me a reassuring smile, and although I was so, _so _glad to hear her say all of that, I was still stuck on Dean. How we he and I right now? He'd been so pissed the last time I'd seen him, and I was positive something like that wasn't just goingt o fix itself. Reluctantly, I realised it would take time.

"So," I said, pushing him to the back of my mind with a small smile. "Looks like I really should lay off the drinking, huh?"

"That'd be a good idea." Mira laughed. "You apparently punched a doctor trying to help you when they came to pick you up. It's a miracle your liver didn't implode, man. They said there were a lot of empty shot glasses."

"I don't doubt it." Falling silent, I looked down at my hands, and then, remembering what the nurse had said, I suddenly looked up at them again. "But I'm not going to AA."

Lily smiled. "It's good to have you back, Ash."

* * *

><p>In the end, the hospital let me leave after a day or so, having decided that my recovery was going to be quick and didn't need medical supervision. I should have been glad about this, since hospitals smelled and gave off an eery feel of death, but I was still thinking about Dean, and how I was going to have to face him sooner or later. Sam and Bobby wouldn't hold a grudge like he would, and although apologising isn't always my best suit, I knew I would have to go the extra mile to really make him trust me again. He wasn't dumb, and he wouldn't be so quick to get back on speaking terms with me.<p>

I found myself back in the hotel room I'd been staying at before the incident, and it was noticably more comfortable with Mira and Lily, setting up the pull out couch since there was only one bed. Sighing, Mira straightened up, and looked at me.

"So," she said, "what now?"

"Honestly, I didn't do anything while you guys were away." they both looked shocked to hear me say this, and I knew they must have had their own assumptions going on what I had been doing with my time, obviously including hunting like nobody's buisness. "I couldn't find anything, no cases whatsoever."

Lily, though, nodded unerstandingly. "Yeah, same."

I was eager to get back into hunting, because although it was nice to have the occasional break, I hated being gone from it for so long. It was like being a teenager again, wanting to do something so badly, yet being unable to. Although this time, I was free of the complications that came from my parents, and especially Janice. There was still that ache of longing in my chest, and I reached for the butterfly off the side table, turning it round in my hands with a sigh.

"Hey." Lily sat down beside me on the bed, and frowned. "Who was that guy in your voice mail?"

"What?"

"You know, the guy in the background while you were saying that you were, 'fucking busy'."

I blinked, still not following, until suddenly, it all came back to me, and I felt my cheeks coloring. "Uh, it was the radio."

Mira and Lily exchanged knowing glances before Lily returned her eyes to mine. "Castiel, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Have you two been," Mira hid a smile with the palm of her hand, pressing it over her lips. "uh, hanging out lately?"

My eyes narrowed, and slowly, I raised the knife with a warning stare. "Treading on thin ice, Mira."

She rolled back onto the couch, laughing, when the sound of someone's cell phone ringing interupted her. Reaching into her pocket, Mira brought out her phone, and pressed it to her ear, lounging across the couch awkwardly. "Hello?"

Whoever was on the other end was speakign quickly and what they were saying clearly was not pleasing her. Mira nodded, and then said, "We'll be right there" before shutting her phone again, and jumping to her feet. "Come no." she nodded at Lily and I. "We have to go, now."

"Why?" I asked stubborningly. "Didn't the doctor say I needed to rest?" I was joking of course, but it came out dry. Mira looked really worried, and I was wondering what was up.

"The angels took Dean to this place, and they're forcing him to torture Alistair." Mira grabbed for her bag that she had left by the door, and hurriedly packed the items she'd taken from it, speaking in a rushed tone. "Sam's worried."

Lily was on her feet at once, looking solemn as she too gathered her things, and slipped on her shoes, already reaching for the keys to the van that I had tossed onto the table. I watched them without moving, feeling out of place. Should I go? Dean probably wouldn't be all that excited to see me, but if he was in trouble, it was going to take all of us.

"Are you coming?" Lily asked, throwing open the door and then turning to look at me.

Without a second's thought, I stood up as well, and grabbed my coat from the mattress. "Yeah, I'm coming."

**A/N: OKAY! So, there's 27, hope people enjoyed it, and obviously it is much longer than 26 had been, so that's good :) No idea when 28 will be up, but it should be soon. I have a spare period at school, and I've been taking the time to write so we'll see how much I can get done! Thanks for reading!**


	28. Twenty Eight Ash

28. Ash

Bursting into the warehouse, we all stopped, shocked to see that a violent battle had already broken out. Dean was on the cement floor, beaten severely, and Alistair has Castiel by the throat, holding him up against a wall as he spat out words I couldn't hear. On my left, Lily was discarded the gun she had carried in with her, tucking it into the waistband of her jeans, and replaced it with Ruby's knife that we had dowsed in holy water on the way over.

She ran full-speed at Alistair, who had heard our entrance and turned around to glower at us. Catching him by surprise, she pushed the knife through his throat, causing him to slowly drop his hold on Cas, and slump to the ground. I thought he was down for the count, and so must have Lily, because she exhaled, and began backing away, probably on her way to go see Dean. But Alistair struggled to his feet, and stood, quickly grabbing Lily's arm, and swinging her around to bring his fist into her face.

As Lily tumbled into the wall, Mira rushed to help her, and I found myself standing alone by the doors, completely dumbfounded as to what to do. I'd forgotten that the knife didn't work on him, having found out that day in the church when we found Anna, and Dean tried t stab him, yet Alistair just pulled it out again, unscathed. He wasn't watching me, having returned his attention to Castiel, and as much as I wanted to go over there and knock that sonofabitch out, I noticed Dean still passed out on the ground, and hurried to his side instead.

"If you were conscious right now..." I trailed off, not wanting to finish as I struggled to prop him up against the wall. Would he be pushing my hands away, pushing _me _away? "Whatever, I'm here now and you'd better thank me for this." I ripped off some of the hem of my tee-shrit, and pressed it against a large gash in his forehead, hoping the bleeding would stop soon. That was when the doors to the warehouse flew open, and Sam appeared, looking "holier than thou" as he raised his hand, snarling at Alistair, and then sent him flying backwards with that psychic-thing of his.

Stalking over to him, Sam raised him up by his shirt, and demanded to know who had been killing the Angels.

So that's it. That was why Dean was being forced to torture the guy. They needed answers, and Dean was the one to get them, I suppose. I looked down at his body, and his head that was lolling to the side, nearly touching my shoulder, and felt bad for the guy. What had happened while he was torturing Alistair that made the tables turn, and it was Dean who came out battered and bruised?

"It's...not the demons!" Alistair struggled to say.

I don't know why, but Sam, still holding Alistair there, suddenly narrowed his eyes, and then, Alistair was dead. Just like that, with his eyes bulging and mouth wide open. Letting his empty vessel crumple to the ground, Sam stepped over him, grimmacing briefly at the body, before raising his head, and looking around the warehouse.

Lily hobbled over to where Dean and I were, knelt down beside him, and without saying a word to me, took over stopping the bleeding on his forehead. I watched her for a moment, at the way she was running her hand through his hair to get out the bits of dry blood, and then I swallowed, and turned away, feeling like I was imposing on something.

Sam had found Mira, and she was speaking quickly, checking to see if he was okay. I wondered if his nose was bleeding, like I'd seen it happen before when he used his powers, but Mira's head was blocking his face, and for the second time, I had that feeling of being in the wrong place. And that was when I remembered Castiel.

He was crouched by the wall, struggling to recover from whatever Alistair had done to him, his hand over his face. I walked over to him, and upon hearing my approach, he slowly lowered his hand, and looked up at me. We were both waiting for me to say something, and so I blurted out the first thing that came to me.

"My God, you got the shit kicked out of you." Oh how classy of me.

Castiel blinked, tilting his head slightly.

"Er, sorry." I noticed the trail of blood coming down the side of his face, curving over his cheek bones, and grimmaced. "You...you okay?"

He nodded, getting to his feet, and smoothing down his tie, his eyes wandering the length of the warehouse.

I don't know why, -and when I think back, it must have been from watching Lily and Mira- but I sudednly reached out, and brushed some of his hair away from his forehead, revealing a wound just beneath his hairline. I wans't even watching for his reaction, and so when Castiel suddenly froze, and I felt that beneath my hand, I brought it back, and found him staring at me.

"Ashley, what are you doing?"

"Yeah, I have no idea." with a sigh, I stuffed my hand in my pocket, and turned away before he could see the embarrassed coloring of my cheeks.

* * *

><p>Dean still hadn't woken up, and when we brought him to a nearby hospital, he was immediately rushed into a room on his own, and hooked up to machines I had no idea what they were. Lily sat in a chair beside his bed once we were granted entry into the room, and gently lifted his limp hand into her own, staring intently at his bruised face. I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to be there yet when he woke, but Mira had offered to go get lunch, and Sam was gone somewhere else, and I didn't want to leave Lily alone. Sitting by myself on a chair by the door, I stared at the clock above Dean's bed, watching as the hands refused to move.<p>

"No, he wasn't." I heard Sam in the hallway, heading towards the door, and when I realised who he was talking to, I jumped to my feet, and hurried to meet him.

"Cas!"

He stopped, turning to look at me with that intense gaze, the one that made my knees weak.

I hesitated, waiting until Sam had disappeared into Dean's room again before saying. "We should talk."

The room next to Dean's was vacant, and so I walked inside of there, and perched myself on the corner of the bed, watching as Castiel slowly followed. He didn't look confused, as he usually did, but rather anxious, like he knew what was coming and was heavily debating disappearing into thin air. I was glad he didn't though, and when he stayed standing, waiting in front of me, I exhaled shakily, and spoke.

"What's going on? With the murders, and Dean torturing Alistair... what is it all?"

There was an uncomfortable silence, and then Castiel gently lowered himself onto a wheely chair that was set up in front of the bed. "It was God will." he said, and I sighed, rubbing at my eyes.

"You sure, Cas? The whole-forcing-Dean-to-torture thing was kind of a...dick move."

"Ashley, you believe there's something wrong with torturing a demon? You?"

I should have been annoyed, maybe, but I wasn't. I just narrowed my eyes. "No, actually I don't. What I _do _have a problem with is making Dean relive his time in Hell. You have to agree that isn't something God would want."

Castiel refused to meet my eyes, remaingin silent.

"Just, here's the thing." I sat forwards, and pressed my hands together in my lap tightly, thinking about what I was going to say before I said it, and very carefully. I'd already struck a nerve, but I didn't wan to offen the guy. "I don't know much about angels, or God, but that order seems completely out of wack. You said, a week go in the van, that you weren't sure yourself. Well..." I trailed off, giving a flourish of my hands that meant he needed to fill in the blanks.

When he finally raised his eyes to mine, they were terribly cold. "You don't know anything about me." He said, and he stood up before disappearing.

Dammit.

* * *

><p>It was snowing. I didn't notice until I was outside and trudging through the slush, but while we were crashing the warehouse party, it had fallen in heavy piles. I'd never really been one for snow, and the cold that came with it, but it was helping the head ache I had going that night, and while I walked along the white streets, I let the harsh winds whip at my face, feeling my cheeks flush at the touch. I really needed a drink. Or five. Five would be good. Like hell Lily would let me, though.<p>

It's kind of pathetic when your want for alcohol helps you identify what mood you're in. From my own personal yearning, I knew I must have felt sad. Yeah, I was definitely sad. Angry was only a drink or two, but considering five meant something much more. So, why was I like that?

There was an alley to the left of me, and I slipped into it, leaning against the cool cement wall as I exhaled slowly, watching my breath cloud in front of my face. I wasn't tired because I was in withdrawl, and I was in withdrawl because I was pissed, and I was pissed because of Cas, and because it was Castiel's fault, I was sad. So, in that reasoning, this is all his fault.

Ten minutes before, a walk had seemed like a good idea. The hotel we were staying at was uncomfortably hot, like the heaters had been left on since June, and I'd tossed and turned in the sheets of my bed before deciding I was probably keeping Mira up. She was, after all, on "Ash duty", as I heard her and Lily refer to it as before, and the least I could do was let her have some hours of sleep before I woke her with an unconscious kick later. I'm not a bad person.

But it was so freaking cold.

Had I known it snowed, I would have gladly stayed inside with the hot sheets and uncomfortable mattress that felt like cardboard and was as thin as such. But I was already out there, and the wind was helping a bit for the headache, so I decided that I might as well stay and see what happens.

"I'm not sure what to do."

I jumped when Castiel was suddenly standing across from me, errect against the opposite building wall with his eyes lowered on the snowy ground. Almost instantly, my surprise was gone (I'd begun to grow used to the sudden appearences he was so famous for) and it was replaced with anger. He made me feel so low, and made me think about drinking again.

"Oh." I narrowed my eyes spitefully at him. "Now you want to talk to me?"

Castiel sighed, and took a step forward, stopping instantly when I moved away from him. "Ashley. I don't know who else...who else to talk to."

Wrapping my bare arms around myself, I inhaled a cold breath of air and then exhaled it again, trying to compose myself. But the pain in his voice, and the emotion of it had startled me. Another thing Castiel was known for was his lack of emotions, especially the human variety. Yet, there he was, standing before me looked absolutely confused, and hurt, and a little bit of everything else not so nice.

"Well..." I struggled to keep my defensive shield up while not sounding like a heartless bitch. "What's wrong?"

"I'm considering disobidience." he spoke quietly, shamefully.

This wasn't what I had been expecting from him, and hearing it caused me to drop my arms completely, staring dumbfounded at him. He really wasn't the type to be so open, and as I considered his confession, I slowly nodded, and waited for more.

"What do I do?" he asked, finally raising his eyes to meet mine. "What do you think I should do, Ashley?"

"You really expect me to know?" I touched a hand to my throat in disbelief, and Castiel merely stared back at me evenly, although I noticed a falter in his shoulders, like he was not wanting that to be my answer. Well, _obviously _he wasn't. "Cas, I give good advice from time to time, but it's really a decision you have to make yourself. Maybe that's not what you wanted to hear, but that's all I've got, other than...go with what you feel is right."

He let out a long sigh, lowering his eyes to the ground yet again. Sheesh, and I thought Lily was bad at eye contact sometimes. What happened to the angel who stared through you to your soul with a signal glance? "I don't know what to do." he said, shaking his head. "I feel all these...emotions...and I don't... I have no idea..."

"Yeah, emotion is kind of a bitch like that. But I can't really imagine life without it, you know? Not all emotions are bad, Cas." Without realising it, I had taken two steps forward, tucking my arms against my body for warmth as I stared at his face shyly. "I mean, the good ones at least aren't."

There was another one of those uncomfortable silences that were too loud, and then Castiel was finally looking at me again, his eyes doing that bittersweet intense stare. "Thank you, Ashley." There really wasn't any reason for him to be thanking me. I basically just gave a "_follow your heart!_" speech to an Angel. Worse, he still seemed just as confused and pained as before, just not he looked like he was ready to go back to keeping things to himself because _obviously _asking humans didn't get him anywhere. I wish I could have done more for him.

And that was when it occured to me, that maybe what Castiel needed was what everyone needed once in awhile.

But would it be completely off the rocker to hug an Angel?

I really wasn't much of a "hug" type person myself, but I gave the occasional one, and it looked like Castiel was in the need of a pick-me-up, so maybe that was what had to be done. I looked at him for a long time, studying the way he was studying me, and then I decided it was time. If I was ever going to do something utterly and completely humiliating that just might make me shovel a hole in the ground and bury myself, this would be it.

Looking back, I'm not sure why Castiel stayed for so long, standing silently in front of me, but he did, and so I had time to reach out my hands, placing both on his shoulders without him moving away. That actually surprised me, too. I don't know if I was expecting him to shuffle backwards, or just kind of _poof _away instantly, but the fact of the matter is that he didn't do either of these things. He remained where he was, watching my awkward movements with a confused expression. And when I pulled myself towards him, and sort of tightened my grip into a light hug, he still didn't move.

I was a lot shorter than him, so I only really came up to his shoulder, but it was enough, I suppose, and so after only a few seconds, I pulled away satisfied, and gave him a half smile. "There." I should have been thinking about other things, maybe trying to decode the puzzle of his reaction, but my mind remained on the warm fabric of his jacket, and how for a few mere seconds, I'd escaped from the chilly night. And he smelled good, too. It was weird, smelling rain while it was snowing. Only when there's Angels around does stuff like that happen.

"Ashley." Cas began, and then he stopped, frowning. I wondered if he was trying to figure out a polite way to tell me never to do anything like that again, but then he was suddenly touching my bare arms, his hands covering the chilled skin. "Are you cold?"

I was still reeling from the contact. "Um, what?"

"Your skin is cold. Take my jacket."

Before I could protest, he was slipping off the trench coat I had grown used to seeing him tucked inside, and was handing it off to me, staring expressionless as I took it from him. The fabric was still warm, and I held it closer to myself.

"Now you'll get cold." I pointed out.

"My vessel responds to the tempature, but it doesn't bother me as it would you."

I was still holding the coat rather than putting it on, and when Cas noticed this, he gave a tired sigh.

"Ashley, pride is a sin."

It was sort of odd, seeing Castiel without his trench coat. He'd taken it off a couple of times before, but this was different somehow. He looked really good. And I mean, _really _good. He stood beneath the falling snow in just the blue suit his vessel had been wearing, the tie hanging loose as per suaul, and I don't know how, but it all just seemed so inviting. I had the odd sensation to hug him again, especially when I saw the flakes hanging like crystals in his hair. Maybe it was because the cold was messing with my brain. Well, whatever it was, I quickly shoved on the coat, bringing the collar up close to my face so I could hide the shy smile spreading across it.

Oh God, that smell.

If I were to ever try and explain how I felt while smelling Castiel... no, I wouldn't even be able to. People would start laughing as soon as I said the words "smelling" and "Castiel" in the same sentance, because that sounds stalker-ish, and very, _very _creepy. But can you blame a girl? He had that rain on a summer's day smell that you can't make cologne out of of. It's one of a kind, just like him.

"That's...that's nice of you." I muttered awkwardly, and I slowly lowered the collar again as I realised how weird must have looked for me to do. "Thanks."

Castiel nodded once, a quick jerk of his chin, but then his eyes grew distant, and he was suddenly looking at something beyond me. I knew it wasn't anything literally beyond me, but it was something, and it had caught his attention instantly. I narrowed my eyes.

"What is it?"

He was already walking towards the mouth of the alley, his face contorted into that perhaps permanent look of confusion. "I need to check something out." He said flatly, and I knew, just _knew _he was about to disappear. It must have been the hug, or maybe that damn rain smell that was making me dizzy in a good way, but I did not want to be left alone. Just as Castiel stopped walking, and turned his face up to the snow-covered sky, I took the three steps nessisary to close the gap between us, and grabbed hold of his sleeve right when he disappeared. Before I could even blink -literally- I was standing in the warehouse again.

"So that's what it's like, travelling with an Angel." I ignored the intense look I was recieving from Cas, and pondered the sensation that was tingling my skin. I sort of felt dizzy, and light headed -that could have been the trench coat-scent though. All in all, I felt good.

"You shouldn't be here." Castiel said gruffly.

I turned around to face him, and when I saw how dark his eyes were, I gave him my best smile. "Are you mad?"

Something caught his attention again, and this time it _was _behind me. I turned around to see what he had been looking at over my shoulder, and saw the broken devil's trap that had been the cause of Dean's intense beating that day. Walking past me, Castiel crouched down, and brushed his finger across the paint on the ground, his eye brows drawn together.

"I made this trap." he said quietly. "It shouldn't have broken."

Oh how confident. "Well, it did so-"

"I think someone purposefully broke it." he was suddenly one his feet, and looking up at the fire sprinkler pipe that was right over top the trap. As he stared at it, a water droplet fell, and landed on his cheek. Casitel's face darkened, and he moved back so that the next drop could fall completely. We both watched it splash against the split in the trap.

I felt something in the room shift, just as Castiel's head snapped up, and his eyes narrowed.

Uriel was coming. We both could feel it.

"Stay hidden." Cas put a hand on my shoulder, and gave me a firm push towards the other end of the room. I shuffled over to where a large wooden beam met the floor, and nearly tripped twice from the damn trench coat that I was _not _about to take off. Just as I pressed my back again the beam, hiding myself from the rest of the room, I heard Cas speaking, and I knew it wasn't directed to me.

"Strange how a leaky pipe can undo the work of Angels when we ourselves are supposed to be Angels of fate."

Uriel's low, throaty voice didn't startle me. I'd been expecting him. "Alistair was much more powerful than we had imagined."

I wondered briefly if he could smell my scent, the scent of a human, and looked down, remembering Castiel's coat that enveloped me. I was being kept well hidden, but I yearned to know what was going on, rather than just hearing words. Peering around the beam carefully, I watched Castiel step closer to the tall, looming figure of Uriel, shaking his head.

"No." He said. "No demon can overpower that trap. I made it myself. We've been friends for a long time, Uriel. Fought by each other's sides, served together away from home, for what seems like forever. We're brothers, Uriel. Pay me that respect. Tell me the truth." He sounded so pained, so desperate that my face crumpled, wishing this poor guy would just get the answers he needed.

Uriel pursed his lips tightly, staring Cas down before speaking in a low tone. "The truth is, the only thing that can kill an Angel-" holding out his arm, he let Castiel see the long blade that was slowly sliding out from his sleeve until the handle was held firmly in his grasp, and he raised it. "-is another Angel."

"You." Castiel glowered at him, his eyes darting between Uriel's face, and the long, oddly shaped blade in his hand.

"I'm afraid so."

"You broke the devil's trap, and set Alistair on Dean."

"Alistair should have never been taken alive." He spoke slowly, like he was explaining something simple to a dumb child. I felt my cheeks flushing angirly as he did this. 'Really inconvienient, Cas. Yes, I ddi turn the screw a little. Alistair should have killed Dean and escaped, and you should have gone on happily scapegoating the demons."

"For the murders of our kin?" Cas asked in horror.

"Not murders, Castiel. No. My Work is conversion." Uriel stretched out his arms, gesturing around the warehouse, but from what he said next, I knew he meant further beyond the walls. "How long have we waited here? How long have we played this game by rules that make no sense?"

Castiel narrowed his eyes. "It is our _father's _word, Uriel." He said sternly.

"Our father? He stopped being that, if he ever was, the moment he created _them. _Humanity, his favourites. This whining, puking larva."

Well, tell us how you really feel, asshole.

"Are you trying to convert me?" Cas asked in disbelief.

Uriel sighed. "I wanted you to join me. And I still do. With you, we can be powerful enough to-"

"To...?" Cas urged, but I could see he was reluctant to hear the answer that was coming.

"To raise our brother."

"Lucifer."

Uriel began to pace very slowly, and Cas stood before him, watching his movements without saying a word. "You do remember him? How strong he was? How beautiful? And he ddin't bow to humanity. He was punished for defending us." Uriel stopped, and turned to face Castiel full on, his face solemn. "Now, if you want to believe in something, believe in him."

"Lucifer is not God."

"God isn't God anymore. He doesn't care what we do. I am proof of that."

Castiel stepped towards Uriel, looking angered. "But this? What were you going to do, Uriel? Were you going to kill the whole garrison?"

"I only killed who said no." he spoke quietly, and I shuddered, thinking of this man stabbing those of his own kind for something as stupid as refusing to join him. "Others have joined me," he continued, "Now please, brother, don't fight me. Help me. Help me spread teh word. Help me bring on the apocalypse. all you have to do is be unafraid."

For a moment, Castiel was silent, and I inahled, praying to _whoever _that he wasn't contemplating the offer on the table. I should have known, though. Cas isn't stupid. "For the first time in a long time," he said quietly, looking Uriel square in the eyes. "I am."

I wasn't expecting the punch that sent Uriel sailing through the air, and then through the wall several feet away. When he landed, I clapped a hand over my mouth to stop from yelling out, because that was freaking _amazing _to watch. The cry was swallowed when Uriel got to his feet, and picked up a metal bar that had fallen amongst the debris of the brokeen wall. He was quick to strike Cas with it, who crumpled to the ground.

It was a battle fought against my own self, trying not to run out there and kick some Angel ass. But what could I do? It was Uriel, for God's sake, and that man-Angel-whatever was more powerful than I could imagine. Torn, I looked around the beam again, and then saw it. The blade Uriel had brought out from his sleeve had been momentarily discarded to make room for the metal bar. If I could just get it...

_Stay hidden._

His voice rang in my head, repeating this several times as if desperate to get the point across. How was possibly supposed to stay hidden while he was being beat-down with a metal bar?

"You can't win, Uriel." he struggled to say. "I still serve God."

"You haven't even met the man." Uriel dropped the bar, and then sent his fist into Castiel's face.

_Stay hidden._

"There is no will." punch.

_Stay hidden. _

"No wrath." punch.

_Stay hidden._

"No God."

Oh what the hell.

I edged away from my hiding place, and shakily picked up the knife, hoping Uriel couldn't hear me, or sense my movements. As I held the cool metal in my hand, I crept up towards the tall man, watching as he began to curl his fist back for another blow to Castiel's face. Just as he did this, I felt my hunting instincts surging through me, weeks of not killing anything pumping hot blood throughout my body, and without hesistating, I stabbed Uriel through the throat with the sword.

Castiel's eyes rolled towards me, and I stared back at him as intensely as I could muster. Here's looking at you. I wondered if it was as awkward for him when I did as when he did it to me, but there were other matters at hand. As Uriel crumpled to the ground in front of me, a blinding white light shot out from his face, and I hand to drop my grip on the sword and pull Castiel's coat up around my own face to sheild myself from it. As soon as I felt it had died down enough, I lowered the collar, and looked at Castiel, still on his knees in front of the empty vessel.

"You killed him." he said, and struggled to his feet, all the while looking at the seared image of wings on the floor.

I couldn't speak, so I just stared at him, my mouth agape.

As if reading my mind, -because I just really wanted to get out of there- Castiel limped towards me, and touched his hand to my shoulder, transporting us back to the alley. I didn't even register that funny sensation I got. I was still thinking about what the hell I had just done. "I..." my eyes wandered the alley aimlessly, struggling to cope with the fact that I had just killed an _Angel_. "I can't believe..."

"You had to." Castiel spoke quietly, oddly gently. "It was necissary."

And for some reason, this alone, or maybe it was just him alone, that reassured me.

When I began walking back in the general direction I figured the hotel was, I was surprised to see Castiel following close beside me, rather than poofing himself away somewhere. I sort of figured, especially from the face he wore, that it would be a silent walk back. But as soon as we were out of the alley, and trudging down the snowy streets, he spoke.

"I find it strange that theorder to torture Alistair borthered you."

"Well," I looked over at him, and shrugged. "It didn't, really. It was the fact that Dean had to do it." He continued to stare at me, obviously waiting for a better explination that someone like _him _could understand, so I sighed and tried to elaborate. "Dean's tough, right? But inside, he's still a good guy. I mean, he's got this moral. He still cares, no matter what Hell tried, or succeeded in doing to him. And making him relive his time there is just trying to break that part of him further."

Castiel frowned. "Who else, if not Dean?"

I knew exactly who else. As I walked, I looked down at my feet, concentrating on the imprints the the snow they made to avoid answering him. I'm sure we both knew who, almost instantly too, because after a second's thought, Castiel let out a long sigh. "You believe you should have done it."

"Yeah, actually I do." Finally raising my eyes to his, I stared at him full on, challenging him to challenge me. "I would have had no problem torturing every single last monster out there for information, and I would have a clean conscience afterwards, too. It's not fair that you made Dean do something with a heavy heart that I could have done with absolutely no remorse. Plus," I thought back to that afternoon, and the image of Dean laying unconscious in the hospital bed. "He got hurt."

"And you wouldn't have?"

I just shrugged.

"Don't you believe that part of you is still pure as well?"

I was going to answer with whatever was about to come to mind -which I hoped was something intelligent- when I spotted a building come up in front of us, and pointed to ito. "Look, there's the hotel. This is my stop." When I turned towards Castiel, he was watching me carefully, probably still waiting for the answer that wasn't coming.

"Good bye, Cas." I said, hinting my departure.

He nodded once, and turned on his heels. "Good bye, Ashley."

I didn't watch him disappear, choosing instead to head in the hotel and see if sleep would overcome me like I hoped it would. There was still a part of my mind that was eating at me, the part recollecting Uriel's death like a movie, over and over again. I saw myself running at him, plunging the blade through his throat, and yet, I didn't have any remorse. I did what I had to, and that's that. Smiling smugly, I opened the door to my hotel room, and then closed it again quietly behind me. I could have tortured that sonofabitch just fine.

The lights suddenly turned on, and Lily was sitting up in bed, staring at the coat I wore. "Oh my God, Ash."

"Good night." I ignored her, and collapsed onto the bed, descretely snuggling the coat closer to my body as Lily shook her head, and turned off the light again.


	29. Twenty Nine LilyAshMira

29. Ash/Lily/Mira

_Lily_

So this was it.

I stared up at the huge skyscraper that seemed to go on forever, stretching towards the sky and blocking out the sun. "Sandover Bridge & Iron inc." looked much less intimidating in the brochure my editor, Paul, had given me while assigning me the job to interview the director of sales. I didn't know the man, -some Dean Smith, a faceless name- but I figured from his position he would be a clean cut, nose in the air sort of person, and this just made me even more nervous. As if I didn't have enough to worry about, what with this being the first _real _important job I'd been given. It seemed Shaun didn't think highly enough of my previous columns to assign me anything big, until now of course. I only got this one, too, because Cynthia Thompson cancelled last minute to go on vacation with her fiance. This was my chance to show Shaun just why he hired me.

Someone came out from the doors of the building, and I inhaled deeply before rushing forward to catch the door again, just as it was about to meet the frame. I pulled it back, and stepped inside, overwhelmed almost instantly by how the air had suddenly switched from the sticky, hot mess it had been while I stood on the street, into a clean, almost too clean deep breath. I could see the entire layout of the main floor from my spot, everything looking as clean as the air felt, and as prestige as well. The walls were glass windows, the desks expensive looking mahogany, and everyone seemed to stare at me as I shuffled across the floor awkwardly, wearing just jeans and a cardigan I had thrown on last minute, replacing the sweater I'd been wearing before. Cheeks flaming, I hurried over to the elevators on the farthest side of the room, and hid myself inside, only exhaling once the doors were closed and I no longer had to look at the people who seemed to be criticising my every movements.

Before the elevator reached the tenth floor, Dean Smith's, the doors opened on the sixth, and a man entered, looking like he was in a rush. He punched the 10 button on the wall, despite the fact I had only just moments before pressed it, and it wasn't going to get us there any faster. With a sigh, I turned away from this man, and focused my attention on the clipboard I'd brought with me, scanning the questions I was to ask Dean Smith and hoping this would help prevent me from stumbling over anything. I only looked up again when I heard the man jabbing another button, this time the one for the doors to close, because evidently even the five second wait for them to do it on their own was too much for him.

"In a hurry?" I asked without thinking, and then my eyes widened, and my cheeks flushed at how blunt I had been.

Slowly, he turned around, narrowing his eyes at me, and raking them up and down my body as if trying to figure out just exactly who was talking to him. When he came up without a name to go with the face, he frowned. "Do I know you? Are you the new temp?"

I had no buisness with this man, and already I was regretting starting this conversation, if you could even call it that. So, I just shook my head, and looked up at the digital floor reader that was slowly creeping towards the tenth. God, I wished it would hurry up. I was probably already late. It must have five, maybe ten minutes past 10 o'clock. Fantastic.

"I'm late for a meeting." the man said, and I was surprised to see he was actually talking to me.

"Me too."

He was looking at me again, obviously still trying to figure out who I was. This time, I just stared back, taking in his geled brown hair that was combed over slightly, but still looked good, and not overly dorky. He wore a white striped dress shirt beneath a crisp, blue suit, with a red tie popping from his chest. I noticed his athletic build almost instantly, making me wonder what someone like him was doing in a place like this, since everyone I had seen already was either female, or tall and skeleton-like thin. He, on the other hand, looked like he kept well in shape, and it showed.

Oh God, I was staring.

Quickly, I adverted my gaze, but could still feel his swampy green eyes on me, even when the doors opened on the tenth floor. It was so weird, but those eyes felt familiar, liked I'd had them staring at me before. I waited until he was out before getting out myself, exhaling slowly to calm my racing heart. I didn't want to go into Dean Smith's office with a flushed face, so I remained by the elevator for a few moments despite how late I was, and flapped my hands in front of my cheeks, hoping the air produced would help with the rouge color. If it didn't, I couldn't dwell on it further, and hurried down the narrow hallway to the door at the very end marked with a plaque that read _Dean Smith. _

It was ajar, and as I pushed it open further, I was met with the back of a man, standing in front of a large window talking loudly. I was going to ask if it was me he was speaking to me, but that was when he turned his head at the creak the door had made, and I noticed the headset he wore. That's not all I noticed, though. I noticed the square, angular chin that bore slight stubble, and the geled hair, as well as swampy green eyes staring right at me...

"Hi again." he smiled quickly before returning to his previous conversation, and muttered something about having to go. He took the headset off completely, and then motioned at the chair that sat in front of a large desk he stood behind. "Please, take a seat."

As I did this, nearly tripping over my own clumsy feet in the process, I wondered if he was as shocked to see me as I was him. He was _not _who I had been expecting Dean Smith to look like. It was a pleasent surprise, of course, but also bittersweet in a way. Now I was even more flustered than before, because not only was this guy good looking, which had been the reason for the flush in the elevator, but he was also the man I had to interview, drill with questions, keep eye contact with no less!

"Lily McDonald, right?" he sat down across from me, and let out a relaxed gust of air as he made himself comfortable, folding his arms overtop of each other and resting his eyes on mine. Oh God, those eyes...

"Yes, Mr. Smith." I held out my hand, and he shook it slowly, but firmly, and I blushed again before he let go. "I have a few questions about your job as sales manager, if you don't mind."

Dean leaned back in his chair, smiled widely. He had such a pretty smile. "I'm always happy to talk about myself."

_Laugh idiot. _"Ha-ha."

"So, what would you like to know in particular?"

"Uh, well," I consulted my clipboard to avoid eye contact. "Mr Smith-"

"Please, call me Dean."

I peeked up at him shyly, and then ndoded before looking down again. "Right, Dean."

In the next hour or so, I found out all that there was to know about being a sales manager of a company like that one. More than that, I found out other things. Like, for instance, Dean was incredibly charming, and had a way of making me lose my place just by lifting a corner of his mouth, or tilting his head to the side as he answered a question.

"I guess that wraps everything up then, unless you had more questions." He clapped his hands together, and cocked an eye brow.

I swallowed tightly. "Nope, that's it. Thank you for your time, Mr. Smi-, er, Dean."

Standing up from my chair, I began to gather the notes I had taken during the interview, well aware of the fact he was staring at me while I did this. It should have annoyed me more, but it was fascinating in a way. I'd never had anyone do that to me, especially not with the intensity that he was. After everything was tucked away in my clipboard, I smoothed down my blond hair, sensing it was out of place, and then forced myself to meet Dean's gaze.

"Hey," he spoke as soon as I did this. "I hope this doesn't sound too forward, but would you want to grab a bite to eat after work? I know this very ncie restaurant, an upscale sort of place if you'd be interested." I still hadn't said anything, stunned into silence, and so Dean leaned forward a little, staring at me curiously. "Let's say, tomorow? Does that work for you?"

_Say something, anything! _"Yes!" it came out almost as a squeak, and I mentally slapped myself as Dean grinned.

"Yes, tomorrow?"

Afraid to speak, I just nodded.

"Alright." He leaned back again, and gestured around the office. "Meet here at, say, six?"

Again, I nodded.

"See you then, Lily."

Taking this as an indication to leave, I nodded for the _third _time and then hurried out of the office, unable to contain the smile that was already spreading across my face.

_Ash_

My eyes were practically drooping by the time the final cluster of men had left the bar, and as I checked the clock, I knew it was wrong because there was absolutely no way it was only 4:30 in the afternoon. The freaking sun wasn't even up. Well, whatever. I was just happy they were finally gone so I could go home, too. I'd worked a double shift for the pay, but about halfway in the second one, I was sincerely regretting it. Being a bartender was fine. Being one for nine hours straight was not.

"Hey Carl." I nodded at him as he appeared from the back of the room, carrying a fresh crate of beers.

He looked around the bar, at the empty tables and emtpy stools, and then sighed, dropping the crate onto the counter. "Well shit. I thought those guys were going to be here for at least another hour. Now I'll have to lug these damn beers back down to the basement." He was already reaching out to grab the crate again when I lunged for it, managing to snag one bottle before he could take them away.

"Going to pay for that?" He asked pointlessly.

"Let's call it a favour. One less one you have to carry."

Carl just smiled, and reached for a beer himself. We fell into a comfortable silence. Sometimes that was the best thing about working there. There was no pressure for conversation, and although Carl and I were closer than me and my own father, we were still able to not talk and have it be completely normal. That was something I learned from an early age that meant you were good friends. Only the most distant of people found silence unnerving. Personally, I found it calming. But, there was something I had to ask.

"So," I turned my face towards him. "I was wondering if I could take some time off."

Carl frowned, and wiped the remnants of his beer off his upper lip before answering. "Well, sure. But why?"

"My parents want to swing by my apartment and see how their favourite little failure is doing." as soon as I said this, my lips turned down scornfully, and my tone turned bitter. "I haven't seen them in years and don't plan on starting any sort of relationship now. So I think I'll skip on the reunion and go for a little roadtrip, just for the time they'll be here."

"Won't they go looking for you?"

"No, they never do. Remember last year when I went to Nevada for a week? They were visiting, and despite my league of absence, they hung around my place for nearly the entire time." I thought about this to myself when I'd finished talking, wondering why they never thought to look for me. Or, even, why they didn't just go home. What was the point of staying at my shitty apartment for a week when I wasn't there?

"Well," Carl's eye brows furrowed. "If you're never here during their visits, why the hell do they keep coming?"

This was something else that I was constantly wondering. "They obviously haven't learned yet. Or, they've kept up a false hope for so long that there's no point in changing that. They hoped I'd graduate high school, go to University, become somebody, and depsite all of that not working out, they still hope I'll hang around and have coffee with them when they visit."

Carl was silent, staring at the neck of his beer for a moment. Then he sighed, and striaghtened away from the bar counter. "You'd better be heading home, Ash. It's nearly four am."

"Jesus." I downed the rest of my beer, and stood up, grabbing for my bag from beside my stool. "See you in a few days."

I had no idea where I was going to go during their visit, but I sure as hell wasn't staying home, even for a second. To be sure, I was as quick as possible packing, chosing only the necissary items so I wouldn't be there long. My parents never gave an exact day for their visits; only vague guest-timation's. It was best to be out of town that night, just incase they decided to come then.

They only really came by every eight months or so, give or take a month. Most of the time, they liekd to forget I even exist, which, personally, was the way I liked things. I suppose it was some sort of parental moral guide they had to abide by, checking in every so often to make sure I haven't killed myself or got thrown in jail. Of course, this didn't even remotely apply to Janice, who made it her soul mission to be better than me in every aspect possible, including being the better daughter. They didn't have to check in on her, because she visited them nearly every day, bringing along her son, her succesful husband, and some sort of news that contributed to the fact that she herself is succesful, as well. I avoided family get-togethers for a reason. There was no point trying to compete with the famous lawyer when on that particular spectrum, I had nothing. No kids, no steady job, not to mention no steady man.

I was the failure, to be specific.

And I didn't care at all.

_Mira_

Each turn I made with the steering wheel brought the ring on my finger into the light, sending a kaleidoscope of color across the passenger seat and dashboard. I looked at it briefly, at the diamond and gold band, feeling the same flip-flop in my stomach that culd only be registered as excitement. I'd heard once that people with engagement rings felt like they were burdened with something, and until recently, I believed that was how it would feel, too. But it wasn't like that at all. This ring felt lighter than air, and if anything, it threatened to send me flying sky-high with joy and overwhelming hapiness.

Sam hadn't done anything exaggeratingly creative during the proposal; the movies tended to overrate that a lot. I liked the way he did it, too. Simplicity is key. We'd been eating dinner, same as usual, and when I made to stand and clean up the table, Sam was on his feet first, ushering me to stay seated. I was confused, but did so anyway. That was when he got down on one knee in front of me, and brought out the ring from his pocket, presenting it with a simple, "Marry me?" Maybe some people would have rathered a big show of it, but that was all I wanted. And of course, I said yes.

When I arrived at Sam's building, I'd taken my left hand off the wheel and was holding it up to my face, smiling at the ring whatever chance I got. That was how I'd spent that morning at school, too. Every time a kindergartener came up to me, I'd suddenly become distracted with my ring. It happened when I was talking to another teacher, and when I was sitting at my desk, and when I was writing on the chalk board. Long story short, my finger had become very distracting.

That was why I decided to go meet Sam for lunch. I needed to get away from work for a little bit and calm down, because I wasn't being a very good teacher at the moment. Besides, Sam was always asking me to visit him, since he said Tech Support was less than exciting, and no one, not his friends Ian or Paul, could entertain him better than his girlfriend. Or, excuse me, his _fiance_.

I found Sam at his desk, typing slowly on the keyboard with a bored expression. For a moment, I stopped, and leaned against the closest wall as I watched him. The yellow golf shirt and pleated pants weren't something he liked to wear, but I personally enjoyed the way he looked in them. The shirt clung to his body, accenting the curves of his arms and his narrow torso. He was a tall man, too, and so the pants looked good on his long, lean legs. And then there was his hair, my favourite part. Today, it was especially messy, layers overlapping layers, which meant he had been running his hand through the brown locks a lot.

Having decided I'd stared enough, I walked over to him, and placed my hands on his shoulders. "Hey you."

"Mira?" Sam spun his wheely chair around to look at me, his lips spread back into his wide, infectious smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I decided to spend my lunch break with you. But it looks like you're having a fun enough time without me."

He grimmaced. "Not even. I could use a break."

I pulled up the chair from the empy computer desk beside his, and sat close to Sam as we ate. I actually caught him looking at the ring almost as much as I did, which was a pleasent surprise, especially since his smile seemed to grow with each glance. After about five minutes, Sam reached out, and closed his hand over top of mine, looking at my face.

"Have I ever told you I love you?"

"Once or twice."

"I love you."

"I would hope so." Lifting my hand from underneath his, I showed him the ring, to which he laughed.

"Right, right."

Despite the happy mood, I could see something in his eyes, something unsettling that was catching his attention nearly as much as the ring. "Hey." I leaned forwards, searching his face. "Is everything alright?"

He sighed, and placed his sandwich down on his computer desk so he could run his hand through his hair anxiously. "Yes. Well, no. I don't know."

"What happened?"

"You know those dreams I'm always having, the ones where I kill _things _and I make a living off it?"

I nodded slowly, recalling some nights when I was woken up by his thrashing, finding him laying in a cold sweat. He told me the dreams, each and every one of them, in excrutiating detail, from the _thing _itself to how he murdered it. I'd never been one for the Supernatural, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't slightly fascinated with his stories of demons, vampires, wendigos, etc. It was especially interesting when I was included in on the dream. I've never been sure if he adds that to the recalling of the dream just to make me feel special, or if I'm actually in them. But he always talks about other people who are in them, too. There's two other girls besides myself, and a guy. Other than me, though, he had no idea who thsoe other people were.

"Well," Sam frowned to himself. "I think I figured out who the guy in the dream was."

"Wait, what? The one who drinks a lot and sleeps around with girls?"

He nodded. "I...I saw him last night. At least, I think it was him. He's the manager of sales, Dean Smith, up on the tenth floor."

I thought back to the newspaper article I had read that morning, interviewing this Dean guy, and wrinkled my nose. "Are you sure that was him? I mean, the guy in your dreams sounds a lot different from the one organizing sales and making pitches up on the tenth floor."

"Positive. They looked exactly alike."

I was going to speak when I noticed Paul, one of Sam's coworkers, sitting on his computer on the other side of Sam. He was hunched over the keys, pounding on them furiously, and looking absolutely stressed. I wondered how I hadn't noticed him before, but Paul was a generally quiet guy. So what was making him freak out like this?

"Hey." Sam turned his chair and touched his friend's shoulder. "You okay, Paul?"

"It froze."

"They're crap, Paul. They freeze all the time."

The man's eyes were wide on his computer screen, and he spoke quickly. "You don't understand. When I... When I rebooted, everything was gone. A whole day's work, deleted."

"Well," Sam leaned forwards, peerign at the screen. "Did you back up?"

"No I didn't back up. I wish to God I backed up but I didn't. I'll get it back." he jabbed his fingers even harder into the keys, and it's surprising how they didn't break under the force. "I'll find it. It's somewhere. I'll find it."

"Paul, it's okay, man. These things happen."

When Paul didn't respond, I began to stand, sensing that it was time I left. "I'm sorry to hear that, Paul." he wouldn't look at me, and so I turned to Sam instead. "I'll see you at home, then?"

"Yeah, thanks for coming over." He kissed me on the corner of my mouth, his lips lingering. "See you tonight."

I looked at Paul one last time, at the frusterated expression he was wearing, before leaving the office floor to go back to the elementary school. Maybe it's a mediocre life, the one I have with Sam Wesson. But I wouldn't change it for the world. Honestly, what else could our lives be like than perfectly average and normal?

* * *

><p>It was when I was driving Sam to work the next morning that I heard the news.<p>

There were police cruisers, an ambulance, and dozens of people crowding the entrance to "Sandover Bridge & Iron inc." as I pulled up. Sam was already unbuckling his seat belt, and opening his door before I even stopped the car. Despite the fact I was not in a parking spot, (just sitting against the curb of the road), I hurried to take the keys out, and follow him inside, pushing my way past officers and people as to keep up. Sam could be really fast when he wanted to be.

I finally caught up when he stopped at the elevators, stepping aside so that paramedics could pass him with a stretcher. The body was not visible, though. It was in one of those bags that zipped all the way up, the kind I only thought existed on exaggerated crime shows. My stomach gave a threatingly lurch at the site of it, and I edged closer to Sam, hiding my face into his arm.

"Oh God." I murmured, looking up at him. "Any idea who it was?"

He shook his head slowly. "There's over three hundred people in this building, Mira. It could have been anyone."

"Right." The image of the body bag wouldn't leave, and so I pulled away from Sam, dying to get out of there as soon as possible. "I..I think I'm going to go, alright? Call me at lunch."

There was something crawling up my throat, and without waiting to see if Sam had registered this, I hurried towards the exit, escaping to the fresh air just in time. I stopped and leaned against the door, my eyes shut and breathing heavily. In through the nose, out through the mouth... God, I felt sick. And I hadn't even seen the body!

"Hey." I turned to see a girl, maybe in her late teens, early twenties, standing with her back against the side of the building. "Is it true someone's head blew up?"

She had such a nonchalant tone that all I could do was stare. It was obvious she didn't work at the building, judging from her choice of apparell. Sam said there was a strict dress code, for all of the floors, and I figured dark wash jeans and a hoodie was not part of any of them. She ran a hand through her short, messy black hair, and stared back at me. "Well?"

"I...I don't know what happened."

"Oh." she squinted inside the doors, and then looked to me again. "Are they letting random people in to see?"

I blinked.

"I mean," she was quick to correct herself, "could I just stroll in and not be ushered out by any fat security guys or something?"

"Why would you want to go in? Someone _died_."

The girl rolled her eyes. "No, really? Sheesh, a simple '_don't know_' would have sufficed. No need to get judgmental."

There was nothing I could say to this person that would not add to the anxious feel I was getting from her. She looked normal, normal enough anyway, but she was curious about a dead body, and that was definitely _not _normal. Without saying anything, I pushed away from the doors, and shook my head slowly, walking back to my car. Weirdo.

_Ash_

Some people in the world just bother me. Others, like the woman who looked at me as if I had been the one to kill the guy, don't really meet the mark for annoyance. I just don't care about them. She looked like a buisness woman, dressed in a pencil skirt and blouse, or maybe she was a teacher, or secretary. Did that mean she was any better than me? Hell no. Did that mean she should judge me? I repeat, hell no. Does that mean she won't? No. Because I don't care who you are, you automatically judge a person when you meet them. How else do you give a first impression?

I probably didn't give off the best vibe, what with asking about the dead body and what not. But she's just some random lady I decided to ask a question to. When would I ever see her again? Never, that's when. So why should I care at all if she thought I was some psychotic freak? Besides, I had better things to think about, like why in the world I actually wanted to see this so called blown up head. Well, who am I to question my sanity. Ignoring the swarm of people still going on about this guy who died, I made my way inside, looking to see me a dead body.

It didn't take long.

Okay, so maybe I didn't _really _see the body. But a body bag is pretty close. I felt satisfied enough, watching the paramedics wheel the guy away, and I was about to leave to continue on my way somewhere my parents wouldn't find me, when I noticed someone watching me. He was a tall guy, probably about 6"5, maybe more, standing by the elevators with a wrinkled brow. I looked over my shoulder to see if maybe his gaze was set on the retreating paramedics, but they were already out the door. Turning around again, I met this guy's gaze, and raked my eyes up and down him, from the dorky yellow golf shirt to the crease in his beige pants. What a stiff. Bet he works in tech support.

"Hey, Frankenstein." He seemed startled to see me talking to him. "Yeah, you. Want to take a picture or something? I've got stuff to do."

Without remarking, he swallowed and looked down, focusing on loose thread in the hem of his shirt.

I could have stayed and bothered this guy more if I cared, but I really didn't. Without looking at him again, I walked back outside, and spotted a parting in the crowd that lead right to my van. I had to throw a few elbows here and there, when a couple of ladies thought this path was open for entrance, but eventually, I made it to my van, and sighed with relief as I climbed into the front seat. "Onward." I muttered to myself, and turned the key in the ignition.

The van groaned, but made no other noise.

"Oh come on." I tried again, and again, and without any luck on the third time, I gave the wheel a good punch to let my baby know he's done bad, and then grabbed for my phone. One hour in this goddamn city and I was already having a blast. Maybe me and the tow guy will have a party to celebrate being miserable. And hey, Mr. body-bag can join in, too.

_Lily_

At five o'clock that night, I began to get ready for my date. I figured I'd go simple with it, or at least, that was my initial plan. By five thirty, I'd scrubbed my skin raw with body wash, changed eight times, and applied make up, washed it off, only to apply it again three minutes later. Maybe I was looking too much into this. It was, after all, just a dinner date. But it was with Dean Smith. Two days ago that wouldn't have been a justification, but now it was, and it was the only one I needed.

I wasn't really expecting much. We'd eat dinner, have awkward small talk, he'd ask for my number (hopefully) and then we'd part ways. The first date isn't as exciting as movies precieve them to be. I could have had higher hopes, but what could possibly happen to make this date different from any others?

Well, as it turns out, a lot could happen.

First, a guy who works in tech support could be sitting in Dean's office when I arrived, and he could stare at me like I had three heads as I entered. Then, there could be a girl with him, introduced to me as his _fiance_ who could keep nudging him and whispering in his ear, nodding in my direction. And, of course, there could be Dean Smith, sitting at his desk with a look of apprehension on his face, seeming confused with all that was happening, and the party that was occuring in his office.

"I didn't plan this at all." He told me, as I looked at him uncomfortably. "Seriously, I didn't."

I tried to smile at him, but something was pulling my attention towards the tall man stretched out in one of the chairs, his eyes still focused on my movements. Something about him, his face and dark hair, as well as his broad build and squared chin seemed so familiar to me. The girl, too. She looked even more familiar, as if she was a long lost friend that I was just reuniting with. I took in her brown hair, small, worried face, and slight build before opening my mouth to speak.

"Have...have I met you guys before?"

The dark haired man sat forward eagerly. "We look familiar, right?"

"Well, yeah."

Dean came up beside me, and rubbed at his eyes. "Look, Lily; I don't know these people-"

"But it feels like you do." the dark haired man interjected, much to Dean's annoyance.

"_Yes_, thank you Sam."

That name. It didn't sound foreign, like a new name usually did. Let me put it in understandable terms: have you ever met someone, learned their name, and found it odd in terms of their face? Well, hearing "Sam" and looking at this man, I didn't feel that. In fact, if anything, I felt like some questions had been answered. So that was Sam. But how come it made sense to me?

"This is my fiance, Mira." he brought his arm around the girl's shoulders beside him, but she wasn't looking at me. She was speaking quickly into Sam's ear, although her eyes seemed to be wandering in my direction every so often. Obviously, she was talking about me. I just wished I knew why she was, or why any of this was happening when I was supposed to be out at a restaurant with Dean Smith drinking expensive wine and having small-portioned meals.

"What's going on here?" I asked slowly.

Dean perched himself on the end of his desk, and sighed. "Well, there's been a string of suicides at the office. And I think... I think today in the washroom, I saw-"

"Did you see a ghost?" Sam interupted, and Dean's face turned angry, but also overwhelmed.

"I don't know what I saw! I was freaking out; the guy shoved a pencil into his damn neck."

Mira shuddered at the image, and although it should have sickened me as well, I felt oddly at ease with this, as if it were an every day, natural occurance. I sank down into an empty chair, and folded my hands in my lap tensely, wishing I'd just stayed home. Dean wasn't worth this, at least I didn't think he was. I'd have a better judgement if we'd gone on our date, as planned.

Sam leaned forwards again, looking solemn. "What if these suicides aren't something natural?"

"Are you trying to tell me that ghosts are real, and they're here?" Dean squinted doubtfully. "On what basis?"

"Instinct."

Dean was silent for a moment, as were we all. I didn't want to say what I was thinking aloud, so I just stared at him as he squeezed his eyes shut, letting out a long, exasperated sigh. "I have the same instinct." he finally said, and raised his face to meet Sam's. "It's weird, but I do."

Sam seemed pleased at this, and then he grabbed for a satchel that had been laying beside his feet, pulling out a stack of papers from the depths of it. "I think I found a connection between the two guys."

As he handed out the papers to each one of us, Dean frowned at him. "You broke into their email accounts?"

"I used some skills I happen to have to satisfy my curiosity."

"Nice."

"Yeah, okay, so it turns out Ian and Paul both got this same email telling them to report to HR, room fourteen forty-four."

I looked down at my own given paper, and the emails that explained this. As I did, I thought about the research I'd done on the Sandover building, as instructed by Shaun for my article. "Could be the ghost of P.T Sandover." I said without thinking. The entire office went silent, and when I looked up, all eyes were on me. I swallowed. "Er, he was the guy this place is dedicated to. He loved the company, like, _loved _it. Plus, there was an odd string of suicides in 1929, seventeen in total." I felt like a dork, rattling on about this, but Dean seemed impressed.

"Wow. Well then, should we go check this out?"

Sam blinked. "Like right now?"

Beside him, Mira gripped onto his upper arm, and spoke for the first time all night. "No, I think it's getting a little late."

Another moment of silence ensued. I didn't know about anyone else, but that seventh floor was calling to me. Taking a shaky breath, I stood up from my chair, and turned to look at Dean. "I really want to check this out now."

His face broke out into a smile. "Me too."

* * *

><p>Ultimately, Sam went with us, and since he came, Mira did as well. Again, I felt this wave of comfortability as the four of us went up in the elevator. Never had I been this calm around strangers, yet for some reason, none of them felt like that. There really is no way for me to describe it.<p>

As the elevator doors opened on the fourteenth floor, the first thing we heard was someone screaming. I was the first one out, Dean and Sam next, with Mira following close behind. Usually, common sense while hearing someone yelling was to retreat from the sound, and yet for some reason, I found myself running towards it. Well, at least I wasn't the only one. As we reached room 1444, I grabbed for the handle, having realised that the noise was coming from inside, but the door was locked.

"Can't get in." I turned to look at Dean, my eye brow raised. "Do you have the keys?"

"No, I'm the manager of sales, not the janitor." He made a face, just as Sam pushed past us both, and stood errect before the door. It seemed that he was sizing it up, for reasons beyond me, and then he kicked it down. Just like that. I was still standing, stunned, even once we were granted entry, as were everyone else.

Dean blinked. "Whoa."

Inside the darkened room, rows and rows of old computer monitors were flickering in a seizure-causing-sort of fashion, and as well, there was an entire shelf of old office equipment laying on top the source of the noise. A man, dressed about the same as Sam, squirmed beneath the weight, and Mira hurried over to him. I didn't watch as she and Sam struggled to get the shelf off the man; my attention was on the transparent figure of another man, having appeared behind Dean. I was about to warn him when the _thing _flung Dean into the wall, and then reached for Sam, who'd only just managed to lift the shelf back up. As he is shoved over, the shelf, too, falls, landing this time on both Mira and the previously trapped man.

I didn't know what to do, although my instincts were telling me to do _something _at least. Standing motionless in the middle of the dark room, I looked around me, seeing Dean struggling to his feet, Sam backing away from the approaching ghost-thing, and Mira grimmacing beneath the weight of the shelf. I had two options: I could go over and help pull the shelf off these helpless people stuck under it, thus putting myself at risk of the same possible fate. Or, I could kill the damn thing that was doing all of this.

The choice was easy.

But how was I going to do it?

"Lily!" from his place on the ground, Dean lifted a wrench that he had somehow gotten into his possesion, and sent it flying through the air towards me.

No one was more surprised than I was when I actually managed to catch it without having it smack into my face, and when I automatically lunged forward, and slashed it through the body of the old man. As if I'd brought my hand through a cloud of smoke, he dissipated, vanishing into nothing. The monitors stopped flickering, too. Everything was silent.

Sam was quick to pull the shelf off of Mira and the other man, both who got to their feet quickly to avoid another incident like that. I helped Dean up, and frowned at him as he rubbed at the back of his head, wincing. "How did you know the wrench would make him disappear?" I asked.

Dean looked at me, seeming just as stunned as I was. "I have no idea."

* * *

><p>It was decided that we would all relocated back at Dean's apartment, having realised that the office building really shoudn't be considered safe anymore. I felt like I was on a sugar high, my blood pumping furiously through my body. It was such a thrill, what we'd done in room 1444. Honestly, depsite how terrifying it had been, I would do it all again, just to have that feeling repeated. As the four of us descended down the elevator to the bottom floor, I could see that I wasn't the only one. Everyone seemed to be glowing, even Mira, who hadn't exactly done a lot, but had witnessed the ghost as well.<p>

Because of the hour, I figured the lobby would be deserted. But as the elevator doors opened, we were met with the sight of a young girl, peering back at us. At first, I didn't pay any notice to her. That is, until Sam whispered, "does anyone else feel like they know her?" and I decided to take a second look. This time, I felt it. That weird sensation of recognition. Whoever this girl was, she was no stranger to me...somehow.

"I know her." Mira murmured, pressing close against Sam as we exited the elevator. "She was in the lobby this morning."

Dean took the lead, and although he looked quite intimidating (at least to me), the mysterious girl straightened up, pushed her shoulders back, and met him half way. The rest of us stopped walking when Dean did, and huddled in a cluster behind him, waiting for the inevitable confrontation.

"What are you doing here?" he asked gruffly. "You don't work in this building."

She smiled, and nodded at the rest of us. "Maybe I came for the party."

"This is an authorized area. You have to go."

"Calm down, Mr. Suit and Tie. I'm not loitering." the smile slowly fell into a grimmace, and the girl looked at the elevators, her eyes narrowed. "I was outside, heard someone scream, and came in here. I didn't know what floor it came from and wasn't about to go on a scavenger hunt in this place, so I figured I'd wait down here and see what happened." she returned her gaze to Dean's. "So, what _did _happen? Another suicide? Except it wasn't, was it? No one screams like that unless they're being murdered." Was it just me, or was there a glint in her eye, and a sort of excited tremble to her voice?

"Are you sadistic or something?" Mira frowned at her. "You seem to have an awful interest in this sort of thing."

"I could be asking you guys the same thing, because you all look flustered and shell-shocked, which means you saw something you don't know how to explain."

I looked up at Dean, but his jaw was locked, glowering at this girl through narrowed eyes.

Beside me, Sam was peering at her as well, although he didn't look suspicous, rather very confused. "That's her." he breathed, obviously meaning for only Mira to hear him, as his head was turned slightly towards her. "She's the final girl of my dreams."

Having heard him, like we all did, the girl raised an eye brow. "Oh, hey Frankenstein. What's this I hear about being the girl of your dreams?"

Sam cleared his throat, casting a reassuring glance towards Mira. "I didn't mean it like... anyway, it's her. The dreams always consist of you, me, Dean, Lily, and her. I don't know how, but we've all managed to show up at the exact same place, and there has to be a reason." he looked to the girl, who was staring at him like he was crazy. "Do you feel like you know us?"

"Well," she spoke slowly, "I know her," to Mira, "because she was in the lobby this morning. And so were you." to Sam, "But I don't know those two," she pointed at Dean and I, "For some reason, though, I feel like I should. Now, you've asked enough questions, can I ask a few?" without waiting for a reply, she continued. "What's with all the 'suicides' here? Why was there a guy screaming upstairs? What did you guys see that you don't want me to know about? And how come I feel like I should know your names, but I don't?"

I thought about answering her questions to the best of my ability, or at least just the second and third ones, but something in Dean's face told me he didn't trust her, and since I trusted him, I kept my mouth shut. No one spoke. After a moment of silence, the girl's face fell flat, and she braced a hand against her hip angirly. "So you've all suddenly gone mute now, is that it? Okay, whatever. I don't need this. Ash, out." She turned on her heels, and began towards the doors. As soon as she did, though, I knew she had to come back. Somewhere inside of me, an unknown part was screaming at me to go grab Ash, because we couldn't let Ash go without us. Ash. That was her name.

"Wait." I called out, much to the surprise of Dean.

He gave me a wild look. "Lily, what are you doing?"

I ignored him, focusing instead on Ash, who'd stopped, and was looking at me expectantly. I hurried to her side, and now that we were so close, her face, too, had become familiar. Her name, her face, and her attitude. It was all telling me that this was right, and she shouldn't be leaving.

"What do you know about fighting ghosts?" I asked.

"Like, _ghosts _ghosts?" Ash was seeming oddly calm with this question, looking like she was thouroughly thinking it through. "Well, besides from old stories and movies, little to nothing."

I deflated almost instantly. The rest of us had the instinct while dealing with one, but it seemed she didn't. "Oh."

Just as I was considering letting her leave again, she spoke. "But, I do know a thing or two about fighting, and fighting a ghost sounds like a kick ass idea."

Maybe Dean, Sam and Mira weren't feeling what I was feeling. Maybe they were. But for some reason. I knew I could let Ash get away. We needed her, even if we didn't know it yet. "I want you to come with us." I said quietly, hearing Dean cuss behind me. "I don't know you, you don't know me, or any of us, but I know there's something going on here. So, for the time being, we should stick together." I could see the excitement growing in her face.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." She grinned broadly. "Who's driving?"

Dean hurried to step in front of me once again, holding his hands out. "Whoa whoa, slow down. You're not coming with us." As Ash's face fell into a hard grimmace, he turned around to look at me. "Lily, are you crazy? We can't just go picking up weirdos who say crazy stuff! Does that sound smart at all to you?" I knew it was his professional, smart-minded mouth speaking, but I couldn't find it in myself to agree with him. And somewhere in that stern body, I knew he was feeling that too. The only difference was that he was ignoring it, and going with what he knew, not what he felt.

"To be honest, Dean," I shrugged helplessly, and then motioned broadly at the group of us. "I think we could all be qualified as weirdos."

Mira was nodding. "She kind of has a point. I mean, it's crazy, yeah, but I think what we did tonight felt right."

It was obvious that Dean was gearing up for an argument; I hadn't known him very long, and even I could tell what those scrunched eye brows and pursed lips meant. But I was quick to turn on him, looking up at his face as sternly as possible to make my message clear. "Dean, stop. You know that something is going on here, and Sam said it himself; she was in his dreams, just like the rest of us." he gave an exasperated sigh, and I kept going, grabbing his chin to direct his face back to mine when he gave Sam a sideways glance. "Quit acting like such a...a... _hardass_ and smarten up!"

The entire floor fell silent. I could feel people watching me, the awkward tension hanging thick in the air. As I struggled to regain a calm composure, Dean's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth, only to shut it again. So in the matter of two hours, I'd fought a ghost with him, met other ghost-fighting people with him, but I'd also talked down to him. That cancels out the good, I think. So, there goes my second date. Fantastic.

"Well..." Ash glanced at Dean's face cautiously before clearing her throat. "Where do we stand on this whole me-going-with-you thing?"

It was Sam who spoke. "Ash, we want you to come with us. All of us do."

Mira and I murmured our agreement, but Dean remained silent, continuing to stare at me. I wished I hadn't spoken so bluntly to him, because it seemed like he was not about to forget that anytime soon. It was also obvious that I had ruined my chances of ever being with him past this one date, if you could even call it that. Well, that was just something I was going to have to let happen, even if it didn't make a difference. I was just turning on my heels, too, ready to leave the building, with or without him, when Dean finally said something.

"Alright, Ash." He nodded at her curtly, all buisness. "You can go with us."

When I faced him again, he was looking at me as well, and a smile spread across his mouth. He winked once, and then jingled his keys in his pocket before saying, "I'll drive."

**A/N: So just for this special episode of Supernatural ("It's a terribly life"), RainbowTurkeyOfDoom and I thought it would be fun to make this chapter and the next one have multiple POV's. But, chapter 31 will be right back into the usual one POV format.**

**Okay the ending may seem rushed but that is only because i am watching Se7 ep2 right now and it is getting REALLY intense! I wanted to post this so now I can watch with my full and undivided attention. Happy reading, fanfic-type-people! =D**


	30. Thirty LilyAshMira

30. Lily/Ash/Mira

_Ash_

Maybe I should have been more concerned with my common sense when I voluntarily climbed into the back of a Prius with four strangers. Maybe I should have considered the fact that these strange feelings emmited from those strangers were nothing more than that double cheeseburger from dinner digesting. Maybe I should have stopped, actually consulted the situation, and realised that it was absolutely crazy for me to even be comfortable with the fact that I'd just been signed up on some ghost-fighting expedition. Hey, maybe I should have done a lot of things. But the fact of the matter is that I didn't. And like it or not, I was in a damn Prius with four strangers, heading down a darken highway to the cocky stranger's apartment.

During the ten minute ride, I was introduced to everyone. The blonde one with the nervous look in her eyes who seemed to hang unusually close around senior-cocky, as well as everything he said, was Lily. Frankenstein with the dreams and weird "instincts" about all of this was Sam, and the brunette chick who literally never left his side, giving a new meaning to the term "clingy" was his fiance, Mira. And then there was the top dog himself, the guy who had unofficially assigned himself the leader of our little posse, was Dean Smith. After only being around this guy for a few minutes, I knew already that we would definitely not get along.

I should have been focusing more on where I was going and who I was going there with, but my mind was set on my own apartment back in my own town where I could just bet my parents were already making themselves at home, uselessly waiting for me. I hadn't left them a note or anything, just the silence to let them know I wasn't there, nor was I coming back anytime soon. They never seemed to pick up on that last part, though. Like I said before, they had a lot of false hope in me. It's true what people say; you can't teach an old dog new tricks. My parents will forever be disappointed, because they're a couple of old dogs who refuse to learn. Pity.

His apartment was exactly what you would expect a person like Dean Smith to leave in. It was as clean as his damn office building, the sort of "upper-class", expensive crap that a person with a wealth-status like mine could only dream of having. Then again, as I perched myself uncomfortably on the tight couch in his living room, I knew I'd never want to live in a place like that anyway. It was too big, too clean, too everything except comfortable. The goddamn couch was stiff and seemed to be resisting the indent of my ass as I tried to sit. It took everything in me not to stand up and beat it into a comfortable position, but I was the guest, and I'm sure hitting his couch would be frowned upon.

Lily, no surprise, lingered with Dean as he prepared himself some sort of drink in the kitchen, and Mira and Sam took a seat beside me on the stupid couch, looking as uncomfortable with it as I was. Giving an irritable sigh, I sat back, and called out to Dean. "Please tell me you're getting us all a beer."

He turned slightly, and I noticed the drink he himself was holding. Not a beer. "Uh, no. I'm on the cleanse. I got rid of all the carbs in the house."

"Oh well you obviously need to lose weight. Good descision." I glowered darkly at the clear-glass coffee table in front of me, wishing I hadn't come along at all. So far, I was not having any fun, and I had a perfectly good hotel room back in town with a fridge full of alcohol. That sounded like a party I was missing out on. But I remained seated, anyway, repeating over and over in my mind what Lily had said. I wasn't here to drink; there were ghosts that needed to be fought. Focus, Ash.

"This all feels so weird." Sam murmured. "It's like we've done this before."

Dean joined us in the living room, he and Lily sitting on the couch opposite ours. "What do you mean, before? Like Shirley MacLaine before?"

"No," Mira spoke before her fiance could, staring with hard, confused eyes at the prestine-clean hardwood floors. "I think we're all feeling this same, shaky sensation that we don't belond here. Or at least, I am." She raised her eyes, scanning the faces of the room. Her gaze fell on me, and she kept it there. "Do you feel it too, Ash?"

I could have lied, but what was the point? "Yeah, actually, I do."

It was right there, lingering in the pit of my stomach. Everything I knew, everything I'd ever done, suddenly felt so wrong. It wasn't like an epiphany or anything; I wasn't reconsidering working at the bar, or living where I lived, but rather, it was the fact that I worked at a bar instead of somewhere else, and, even weirder, the fact that I actually had an apartment of my own. Somewhere inside of me, I felt like apartments were useless, that my hotel room would suit me better. But what kind of a person only lives in a goddamn hotel room?

Sam slowly nodded, exhaling. "I feel like I should do something more than sit in a cubicle."

"I think most people who work in a cubicle feel that way." Dean chuckled, lifting his drink to his lips.

"No. Well, look, it's more than that. Like, I don't like my job. I don't like this town. I don't like my clothes, or my last name." Sam's eyes widened, and he turned towards Mira, looking absolutely stunned at having said this. "I don't know how else to explain it, except that...it feels like I should be doing something else. There's just something in my blood. Like I was destined for somethign different. What about you guys?" He spoke to the rest of the room now, sounding desperate not to be alone on this sudden train of thought. "Do any of you ever feel that way?"

"Sometimes." Lily admitted, and then she gave a short, humorless laugh. "Well, more recently than sometimes."

Sam smiled at her, but his face soon fell into a solemn expression again. "So. What do we do now?"

"We do what I do best, Sammy." Dean grinned. "Research."

"Okay...did you just call me Sammy?"

"Did I?"

"I think you did, yeah."

Dean blinked. "Sorry. Uh, my laptop's in the other room."

As the two of them retreated from the living room, I looked around at the remaining people, and found myself feeling like this was not an unusual occurance. In fact, although I was comfortable around Dean and Sam, I felt even better when it was just Lily, Mira and I. God, it was like I was in the Twilight Zone or something. This was all just so freaky. Maybe it wasn't real. Maybe, this was all part of my subconsciousness, and really, I was passed out in a bar somewhere after having a little too much to drink. Just to make sure, I pinched myself hard in the arm, and grimmaced when the pain registered, and I remained sitting where I was rather than waking up.

"Ow." I muttered to myself, and Lily raised an eye brow.

"Well that was stupid."

"This whole thing is stupid."

Mira frowned at me, turning so we were facing each other. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know any of you guys, but I feel like I should. You call it whatever you want; I call it stupid."

"Wouldn't 'weird' be a better word?" Lily gave a half smile.

"Weird, stupid, outrageous, surreal... they would all fit the bill."

Silence fell among us, and although I was still reeling from the fact that this all was actually real, I felt calmer than before. This could be a fun expirience. How many people get to fight ghosts in real life? Well, granted I haven't fought any yet, I'm sure the time is coming.

"Hey, guys." Sam called out from the other room. "We found something."

I got up and followed Lily and Mira into the adjacent room, some office that matched the clean-decor as the rest of the apartment. Dean was seated in the desk, typing away on a laptop while Sam stood behind him, peering curiously at the screen. As we entered, he looked up, and waved us over eagerly. "He found instructional videos from real, actual ghost hunters."

"These guys are genuises." Dean said, waiting until we were all huddled around the computer before letting one of the videos that were opened play.

The video was very ammateur, obviously made in someone's garage, (no doubt their parent's) and the people in it didn't look terribly professional, let alone the "genuises" that Dean so described them as. I smelled bullshit, but the other seemed to watch it intently, and I wondered why none of them hadn't whipped out a legal pad to take notes. Well, the advice given in the videos were pretty straight forward; to defeat a ghost, use iron and rocksalt bullets, and to finish it off, burn the body. Something about these instructions felt very familiar. But I could honestly say that I had never done any of that before in my life.

As soon as the video ended, Lily straightened up, and frowned. "They said that ghosts are gone for good when their bodies are burned, but wasn't Sandover creamated?"

"Who's Sandover?" I asked.

"The guy who owned the company a while back. We think he's the ghost haunting it, and causing people to commit nasty suicides." Dean stared intently at the screen as he spoke, like the stilled image of the two idiots might give him the answers he needed. After a moment, he sat up, and spun his chair around to face us. "Didn't they say something in the video about that? Genetic material can hold the spirit too?"

Despite the fact that the video was a joke to me, I did recall hearing something like that. "I think you're right. They said fingernails, hair, that sort of thing."

"So," Mira's brows furrowed into a look of deep confusion. "We have to look for this guy's...fingernails?"

"Well it could be anything." Sam said. "Genetic material varies. We'll just have to go back to the building and see what we can find."

I thought about the screams I'd heard ealier, and the fact that there was a real live ghost wandering the halls of that place. I began to smile. "I'm in."

_Mira_

I used to love Scooby-Doo when I was younger.

Seriously. I had all of the episodes on VHS, practically spent every night after school watching the series on television, and I even had plush figures of the entire gang that sat with me. Sometimes I got scared, but at the end of every episode, the horrible monster was unmasked to reveal a normal person. That was how I viewed monsters; they were all just people, waiting for someone to take the mask off. But this was different. This ghost in Sam's building wasn't a hologram, or a person beneath some bed sheets. It was a real, live ghost. And this time, I was part of the crazy people who ran after it, instead of away.

"How the hell are we going to find some ancient speck of DNA in a skyscraper?" Sam asked, as the elevator of the building slowly began to rise.

I was squished between Sam and Lily, with Dean standing right in front of the elevator doors. He'd somehow become the group leader, taking the head-spot where ever we went. Personally, I didn't mind being in the back, but I knew Ash hated it. That probably wasn't the reason she chose not to take the elevator with us, though. Probably didn't like heights, so she took the stairs instead.

"Well, that creepy storeroom used to be his office, right?" Dean shrugged his shoulders, and then pressed button fourteen to take us up to that floor.

I was slightly reluctant to return to that room, especially since I'd spent the duration of my last visit underneath a hevay shelf with some random guy. But, I was also curious, and almost excited to see the ghost again. I hadn't gotten very much of a good look before. And besides, as long as I stayed close with Sam, I was sure to remain upright. Or atleast, I hoped I would.

The office was empty of ghosts and people as we entered. It was dark, the air thick, and yet I felt like I'd done this before, despite the fact that I preferred open spaces. It was especially familiar as I walked the length of a shelf with Sam, and I was using every sense to make sure there wasn't a ghost near us. It was easier than I would have thought; somehow, I knew what to listen for, how the air would change, etc. I wasn't ready, though, for a security guard.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He glowered darkly between Sam and I.

Sam startled, but I quickly looked over my shoulder just in time to see Dean ducking behind a row of large monitors, pulling Lily with him. Good, at least they were safe. Turning back to the guard, I swallowed tightly. Crap.

"Nothing." Sam began nervously. "We were just-"

"Come with me." The guard roughly pulled us away from the shelves and Dean and Lily.

I was uncomfortable with his hard grip on my arm, but I knew better than to speak back to a security personel, so I just let him tug me along the hallway, hoping Lily and Dean would be alright on their own. What if the ghost showed up?

Sam was trying to reason with the guard as we walked. "Man, listen. Look. It's okay. I work here." He tried to show him the employee badge he'd kept in hsi pocket, but the guard just rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Tell it to the cops."

At the end of the corridor, we entered the elevator again. I watched as the doors shut tightly, enclosing us inside, and it took everything in me not to wriggle away from him and run back to the office. I felt useless, being lead away by a stupid security guard, and by the annoyed look Sam wore, I knew his sentiments were the same. As the elevator began to descend, he gave an exasperated sigh, and closed his eyes, probably thinking hard to himself. I would have as well if I hadn't noticed the current-weather television screen on the wall of the elevator go to static. And then, I looked over at Sam, and watched as the breath released from his clenched teeth clouded in front of his face. I exhaled as well, and when my own was visible, I began to feel sick. This can't be good.

At that moment, the elevator screeched to a halt.

The guard frowned to himself, and then used a key off his belt to open the inner doors. Once this was done, he reached out, and pried open the outer doors as well, revealing about half of the floor above us. We were stuck between two levels.

"Well, come on." He didn't look at Sam and I as he braced his hands on the floor visible from the doors, and tried to lift himself up.

I watched him do this with wide eyes. "What?"

"Last time this happened," the guard grunted as he tried to lift himself again with no luck, "it took them two hours to get here."

Sam was watching him as well, and looked as reluctant as I did. "Let's just wait."

The guard finally managed to pull himself up, and crawled across the floor, disappearing out of sight. A moment later, his face came into view, and he motioned for us to follow his actions. I wasn't about to move, but Sam put his arm in front of me anyway, keeping me in place. "Seriously," he said, almost sounding nervous. "We'll wait."

The guard gave an annoyed sigh, and leaned further down towards the elevator. "Listen, I don't have the rest of my life here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the elevator gave another violent lurch, and it dropped down suddenly, knocking me off my feet. I felt something warm spraying across my face, something that didn't immediately register until I'd opened my eyes, and saw red. Literally. The guard had been decapitated, and I now wore his blood. I gagged, and turned my face into Sam's shoulder, only to find that his yellow golf-tee had also been drenched. Oh God.

I screamed, loudly, hoping Dean could hear us from the ninth floor.

"Mira!" Sam gripped his hands on my upper arms, focusing me so that we were looking eye-to-eye. "It'll be okay!"

"What about...what about him?" I didn't have to ellaborate on who I meant, and judging from the way Sam's eyes rose slightly, I knew he was thinking about the headless body that was laying on the tenth floor.

"We have ot leave him." He said, touching my hair and smoothing it away from my face. "We have to go. the ghost is free and he could come back." There was the sound of a phone ringing, and Sam brought his cell up to his blood splattered face to answer it. "Dean...yeah, we're okay. We'll be there in a second." As he hung up, he looked at me, and seemed to be measuring my shock state. "He says he found something, and to meet him up on the twenty second floor."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, and nodded. "So...to the stairs."

_Lily_

As soon as he heard the guard, Dean grabbed onto my arm, and pulled me down with him behind the shelf we'd been checking. I was worried about Sam and Mira, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also very distracted from the way Dean was holding me against his frame, breathing quietly against my cheek until the door to the office had closed. He slowly released me, and we both got to our feet, my face flushed from the sudden interaction between us. I had to play it cool, though, and took deep breaths to try and lessen the rouge of my cheeks. But he just smelled so good! The color slowly began to come back from the memory of that scent.

His cell phone rang. Pressing it against his ear, Dean spoke quietly, in case the guard was still out somewhere in the hall. "Hello?"

He listened for a moment, his eye seeming distant, and then he said, "We'll be right there" before clapping his phone shut again. "That was Ash. She's up on the twenty second floor, and says she thinks she's found what we're looking for. I'd better call Sam."

The elevator wasn't working for some reason, so we ended up having to take the stairs up, and when we got there, Ash was standing at the very end of the hallway, her back to us as she stared at a display case set up against the wall. From my point of view, I could see it was some sort of mural of a bridge, and immediately, I thought of a picture frame I'd found in the office before the guard had come. Sandover Bridge.

"Hey." she turned around as we approached, and motioned at the glass case attatched to the wall. "There it is."

I read the gold plaque attatched to the bottom of the display. "PT Sandover's gloves?"

"How much do you want to bet there's a little smidge of DNA in there?" Dean was already peering at the gloves, his eyes narrowed into slits. "You know, like a fingernail clipping, or a hair or two? Something."

Ash nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking."

The doors to the stairs we had just come through opened again, and Sam and Mira appeared, both wearing a fair ammount of blood on their faces. I startled at the image. "Oh my God! What happened to you two?" They were wiping at the blood with grimaces, and dropped the dirty clothes in a garbage can as they walked, both seeming extremely uncomfortable.

"The guard was killed in the elevator." Sam muttered, and then noticed the gloves. "This what we're looking for?"

Dean, regaining his composure as slowly as I was, nodded. "We're pretty sure, yeah."

"Alright, then let's do this."

Ash had two iron poker sticks with her, taken from Dean's apartment earlier, and handed one over to Sam. Together, they smashed the glass of the display case, revealing the grungy looking gloves inside. As soon as the glass was shattered, I felt something change in the air, a shift that made my heart skip. Lifting my face, I looked at Dean, just as he exhaled, and a cloud of vapour formed in front of his lips. That was when I saw it. The ghost, now much more visible than when we'd last met in the darkened office, was standing right behind him. I was about to warn Dean when Sandover suddenly grabbed him, and threw him against the opposite wall. Dean grunted, and crumpled, his iron stick landing on the ground a few feet away.

Me, being the closest to Dean, was the next victim. I had no idea that ghosts could physically grab anyone, but he had me by the neck, and was tightening his grip. As I struggled, my feet slowly losing touch with the ground, I heard Mira scrambling to grab Dean's abandoned poker. She swung it from behind him, making him disappear and nearly hitting me. I fell onto the ground, holding my sore throat, and looked up to see that the ghost had reappeared, this time beside Dean, who'd only just gotten to his feet.

"Dean!" Ash cried, and tossed him her own poker so he could slash it through Sandover, making him disappear once again.

All was quiet, but I'd learned not to trust it, or to get too eager. The ghost was somewhere, and he was waiting to show up again. Slowly, I stood, and looked at Dean's forehead where a cut was bleeding, just above his eye brow. Mira handed over her poker to Sam, and at that moment, Sandover appeared, standing right in the middle between Sam and Dean. The two used their pokers like baseball bats, and slashed through the ghost almost instantly. Again, it was gone.

"This should be a sport." Ash grinned.

Sandover stood behind her, and threw her into the wall Dean had only just been thrown into a few minutes before. Mira was next. From the sound of her impact, I knew she'd hit the wall hard. It didn't surprise me when her eyes shut, and her head slumped, lolling against her shoulder as she sat still. Sandover was staring at her as well, his face contorted with anger, and he disappated before either Sam nor Dean could touch him with their pokers. He appeared beside Mira, his fingers seeming to be emmiting some sort of blue electricity as he brought them down towards her unconscious face.

Sam dropped his poker, and grabbed for the gloves, rummaging in his pocket for a moment before retrieving a zippo lighter. Just as it seemed Sandover's fingers were going to press against Mira's forehead, he was going up in flames, and then was no more than a memory, not even an ash remaining.

Mira, roused from her unconscious state, blinked. "What the-"

"Are you alright?" Sam hurried to her side, and gathered her in his arms, his eyes wandering the length of her body worriedly before hugging her against him.

Still rubbing at my neck, I turned towards Dean, and grinned at him. "So that was a fun first date, huh?"

"I don't know how I'm going to top this, but would you be willing to go on a real date tomorrow night? Dinner, movie, all that junk?" He smiled sheepishly. "No ghosts, I promise."

Although I returned his smile and nodded, I was still thinking hard about what had just happend; the thrilling leap my stomach gave each time the ghost appeared, and how exciting it was to have to look up all the research on him, searching for clues like I was a real ghost hunter. Who knew a job like that could be so much fun?

_Mira_

Ash seemed to be the most excited out of all of us, practically buzzing with it as we regrouped in Dean's office later. "That was freaking amazing!" She kept saying, grinning widely and looking at each person's face to see who shared her sentiments. "Right? I mean, that was a real live ghost! Well, not live but you know what I mean!" She turned towards me, and exhaled happily. "Nothing like it, Mira, I'm telling you; nothing like it."

On the other side of the room, Sam was cleaning up Dean's forehead, and glanced over with an odd look in his eye, something I'd only seen once before, when he was suggesting that he and I buy and apartment together. I gave him a curious glance. "What's up with you?"

"We should keep doing this."

"I know!" Ash was quick ot jump in, smirking at him. "It's such a rush!"

After fixing a gauze pad to Dean's head, Sam stuck his hands deep inside his pant's pockets, and walked around the desk to the chairs, where the rest of us sat. His eyes remained on mine, that same excitement gleaming in the irises. "I mean it. There's got be other ghosts out there. We could help a lot of people." I hoped I wasn't the only one finding flaws in this plan, and I soon found out that I wasn't; as soon as Sam finished, Dean raised his eye brows incredulously.

"What, like quit our jobs and hit the road?"

"Exactly."

"How would we live, Sam?" I shook my head at him. "Would we get by with...with stolen credit cards? Eating fatty diner foods, sleeping in a hotel every single night?"

He was still smiling, unable to see just what was wrong with all he was saying. "Details, Mira."

"No, not details; obvious problems. We can't just go fighting ghosts, and monsters like we were made to!"

Just then, his face fell into something along the lines of guilt, and I immediately knew he was hiding something from me. Everyone else, evidently, saw it too. I could see Ash getting up with her eyes narrowed, Lily leaning forwards in her chair, and Dean walking towards Sam suspciously. "What's wrong with you, man?"

"I have a confession to make."

"What?"

Looking around at the four of us, he admitted what was on his mind in a rushed explaination. "I didn't really tell you everything about the dreams. We're not all just hunting monsters together in them; we're completely different people. Mira," he turned towards me. "You and I weren't engaged. And Lily wasn't a newspaper columinist, and Ash didn't do..." he cast her a confused sideglance, "whatever it is that she does, and Dean wasn't a stuck up business man. He and I were brothers. You three called yourself sisters, even though you weren't, but you were best friends who hunted monsters, just like Dean and I."

"Sam," Lily began, trying to sound reasonable. "Everyones has dreams like that. You can't look into it so much."

"But then how do you explain the fact that all of us ended up here, and fought a monster together, just like in my dreams?" Sam sighed, and ran a hand through his thick hair in an aggravated manor before trying a different angle. "Listen, guys. You've all felt it today; that sense of this all being so right, and everything else you've been doing being so wrong. What if those people in my dreams are who we really are? You all saw us back there, working together! The ghost was scrambling employee's brains..." he shrugged helplessly. "What if it scrambled ours?"

The entire room was silent. And then, "I'm in."

All eyes shot towards Ash who was standing confidently beside Sam, daring any of us to challenge her descision with a single stare.

"Ash, you too?" Dean rubbed at his eyes, exhaling through his teeth. "This is all _nuts_."

She glowered at him. "I know this isn't who I'm supposed to be. And that goes for everyone else."

"No. I'm Dean Smith, okay? Director of Sales and Marketing. I went to Stanford. My father's name is Bob, my mother's name is Ellen, and my sister's name is Jo. That?" His face darkened. "_That _is real. Dean-in-Sam's-dreams is not!"

"Dean," Sam tried again, looking tired at having to explain the same thing over and over again. "When was the last time you talked to them?"

I watched as Dean's face fell into a puzzled expression as he mulled this over, and then, almost a heartbeat later, he grew angry again. "Okay, what are you saying? Are you trying to say that my family isn't real? Huh? That we've been injected with fake memories? Come on." As he spoke, I glanced at Lily who sat still in the chair beside mine. Despite all that Dean was saying, she was frowning at her lap.

"Everything okay?" I asked, nudging her shoulder with mine.

Slowly, she shook her head, eyes wide. "I don't remember the last time I talked to my parent's, or remember anything from my childhood, any of my school teachers, or my first car. It's all blank."

Dean, having heard this, looked over at her, seeming disappointed. "Oh no, not you too! You're not buying all of this crap, are you?"

Before she could answer, Sam had stepped in front of Dean's line of vision, blocking Lily from his gaze. "All I know is, I got this feeling in my gut. And I know. I know that deep down, you, all of you," he turned, and searched each of our faces, his eyes lingering longest on mine. "you gotta be feeling it too. We're supposed to something else, other people. You, Dean. You're not just some corporate douchebag. This isn't you. I know you."

I didn't look at Dean's face, still staring at Lily. My third grade teacher's name was...what? What the hell was it? And who taught me to ride a bike? Did I even _know _how to ride a bike? Everything I thought I once knew was just disappearing from my mind, a white-board wiped clean. I began to hyperventilate, wondering if maybe, just maybe, Sam Wesson wasn't insane, and he was preaching the truth. Obviously, though, not everyone was thinking the same thing.

"Know me?" Dean scoffed scornfully. "You don't know me, pal. You should go." Without even looking at the rest of us, he sat down in his chair, and spun it around so he was facing his window, staring at the darkened sky. Unsteadily, we all rose, Lily seeming like she was debating going to talk to him. After a moment's hesitation, though, she lowered her eyes, and walked out of the office. Ash followed her lead. Sam looked over at me, sighed, and then left as well. I had no choice but to follow him. But more questions were plauging my mind; how did we meet? What was our first date like, our first kiss? Oh God...

**A/N: Not much to say right now, except that I hope you enjoyed this chapter =) Party on, fanfiction type-people.**


	31. Thirty One Mira

31. Mira

It was early morning the next day when it happened.

I'd been sitting on the edge of our bed, pulling on stockings, when I felt it. The only way to explain this sensation was as if a veil had slowly just been lifted from my face, revealing the world and all of its truths. Suddenly, this apartment was as unfamiliar to me as the furniture in it. I stood up quickly, nearly tripping over the rest of the stocking that hadn't been fitted onto my legs yet. Reaching my hand out to catch myself on the wall, I noticed my left hand was unsually bare. Where was my ring?

Wait...ring?

And all it all came rushing back to me. I wasn't Sam Wesson's fiance, this wasn't our apartment, and I sure as hell was not getting dressed to go be a kindergarten teacher. I had no idea where Sam was, although I wasn't terribly excited to go and see him. If I remembered, that meant he did too, and it would be an awkward conversation as we discussed what had happened. We'd been _engaged._ The proposal was rushing back to me, and despite the fact that it was all fake, I felt saddened. Now, we were right back to where we were before; just friends with a demon in the middle, blocking us from each other.

"Mira?" Sam slowly walked into the bedroom from the hall, peering down at his yellow golf tee with a confused expression. "Any idea what's going on?"

"Not a clue."

He was already grabbing for his cell phone off the side table. "Maybe Dean knows."

I remained on the bed as he made the phone call, staring at my hands. So it was all fake. Maybe the setting wasn't, and the ghost obviously wasn't either, but everything that mattered was. I felt like I'd woken up from a dream, but I could clearly remember all of this one, and it hurt me to. Sam, as he spoke quickly to Dean, seemed like he was embarrassed from the short time we were engaged; he avoided my eyes completely, running his hand through his hair every few seconds or so. Was he really that uncomfortable about the thought of being with me? My heart sank even further.

"Alright Dean, thanks. See you there." he closed the phone, and then sighed, turning so his back was to me. "He says an Angel, some Zacharia guy, set all of this up. He's got Lily, and they've already found a case." I could see his shoulders tensing, and they didn't relax the entire time he spoke to me. "Let's go get a taxi and meet up with them."

* * *

><p>After we met up with the rest of our group, I couldn't help but wonder if this new case was real or not. Had we not just been tricked? But, everyone else seemed confident as we made our way into a comic store a few towns over to invesitage some creaks and odd noises. I walked beside Ash, and only half listened as she went on about Dean, and his coldness towards her. I knew she hated the fact that Dean hadn't called her to tell her about the case, but rather got Sam to do it, and got him to pick her up as well. I just don't know why she thought something like what happened to us would make Dean forgive all that she did.<p>

There is only one person inside of the comic book store as we entered, sorting through the shelves with a look of extreme concentration. He noticed us, and let his eyes fall across the line of five FBI agents that was enclosing on him, before stepping back and frowning nervously. "Uh, can I help you?" I noticed he was edging towards the cash register counter, and then he slipped behind it fully, obviously feeling safer when there was a barrier between us.

"Sure hope so. I'm Agent DeYoung." he showed the nervous man his FBI badge, and then motioned to the rest of us while we did the same. "This is Agents Shaw, Harrington, Collins and Way."

Sam pocketed his FBI badge after showing it, and looked at the man. "Have you noticed anything strange lately?"

"Strange?" He repeated, confused.

"Flickering lights, scratching noises, that sort of thing?"

The man still looked severely confused, so I opened my notepad and read off what I'd written. "Some other tenants reported flickering lights."

"Some skittering noises as well." Lily pitched in. "Like rats in the walls."

"And...the FBI is invesitgating a rodent problem?'

I watched Lily blush, and swallow tightly before Dean took over. "What about cold spots? Feel any sudden drops in tempature?"

I didn't think we were getting anywhere with this guy, judging from the perhaps permanent blank expression he wore. But it seemed what Dean had said finally got through to him, because the man began to grin widely, looking far too excited about facing the FBI. "I _knew _it! You guys are LARPing, aren't you?"

I blinked. "What?"

"You're fans!"

"Fans of what?"

Dean stepped forwards, his eyes narrowed. "What is _LARPing_?"

"As if you don't know!" the man laughed scornfully, and his smile broanded. "Live-action-role-playing! You're asking questions like the building is haunted, just like those guys from those books! What are they called?" His brows pulled together as he struggled to come up with a name. The rest of us just stared at him, totally and utterly confused. "Supernatural...yeah, that's it! Two guys use fake ID's with rock-star aliases, hunt down ghosts, demons, vampires, you name it! What are their names again? Uh, Steve and Dirk? No, Sal and Dane?"

Beside me, Sam frowned. "Is it, Sam and Dean?"

"Yeah!" the man nodded vigerously before turning his attention to the res tof us. "And you girls are LARPing as the hunting sisters, right? Ash," he pointed ot her, "Lily," to her, "and Mira!" as his index finger pointed to me, I felt the colour draining from my face. How in the world did this guy know who we were, all of us? I was pondering this when I remembered something he had said a moment before.

"What, this was a book series?" I asked, and he nodded again, turning around to face the shelf of books that stood on the wall behind him. He skimmed the titles with his finger, murmuring to himself, before finding what he was looking for, and pulling a book from the stack. As he turned around again, he held it up for all of us to see.

"Wasn't very popular." He murmured, handing over the book to Dean. "It had more of an underground cult following, really. Supernatural, by Carver Edlund."

Dean frowned down at the text on the back, his eyes wandering the text as he read it aloud. "Along a lonely California highway, a mysterious woman in white lures men to their deaths."

Sam snatched the book out of his hands, reading it as well with wide eyes. He looked up at the man, and said, "We're going to need every copy of Supernatural that you've got."

* * *

><p>There was a motel just down the road from the comic book store, and this was where Dean decided we would stay. I knew he didn't feel much like driving further, and it was the same reason as to why the rest of us didn't complain; we all wanted to read those books. Wouldn't you be curious to read the story of your life, something you didn't even know someone had been recording? I wondered how I'd never heard about these, but if they were "more of an underground cult" than anything, I guess it wasn't that big of a surprise that they weren't being shown on book displays in stores all over America. Which was why we needed to read them pronto before they disappeared altogether.<p>

In the guy's hotel room, the five of us gathered on beds and couches, each holding a book from the series and skimming through it. I got the second book, I believe, and read about the Winchesters fighting a Wendigo. It was appropriately titled, "Wendigo". About eight chapters in, I closed the book, and rubbed at my eyes. "Sam, were you having nightmares for the first little while you hunted with Dean?"

He was reading another book, and didn't look up from it as he nodded absently. "Yeah."

"This guy even knows the little stuff."

Dean, lounging across the length of his bed, let his book fall onto his chest. "How, though?"

"No idea."

"Everything's in here!" He picked up the book again, and scanned the page. "This one is about the racist truck we dealt with a while back. It's even got me and Cassie..." he trailed off slowly, and I noticed his eyes wandering towards Lily, who sat on the couch with her laptop. "never mind."

Just then, Lily's eyes widened. "Uh, guys? These book's fans wrote stories on the internet."

Ash stood, and walked over to where she was, peering at the screen. "What, like a fanfiction?"

"Something like that." Lily grimmaced. "And they've got certain pairings."

Now she had everyone's attention. Although Dean kept his distance (I don't want to say it was because Ash was over there, but why else?), the rest of us migrated over to Lily's computer as she read off these certain _pairings_. "There's a fair bit of Slash. Like," she grimaced, "Sam slash Dean."

I wrinkled my nose. "Aren't they brothers in the novels?"

"Doesn't seem to matter." She continued to scroll down, and then drew back with a shocked expression. "Lots of Smira too."

My cheeks burned, but Sam was frowning. "What is Smira?"

"Anything else?" I asked quickly, stepping in front of Sam's view just in case Lily lingered on those particular _Smira_ stories. Thankfully, she continued down the list, and then she herself blushed.

"Oh wow."

It looked like she wasn't going to say what this next pairing was, so I lifted her laptop from the table it rested on, and squinted at the screen. "Dilly." I read from a subtitle beneath a story, and it didn't immediately register what I had just said. Slowly, I looked up to see that both Lily and Dean were wearing embarrassed expressions, avoiding each other's gazes. Oh, like they weren't already together. Sighing, I glanced back down at the stories, and saw another pairing; _Dash_. Considering the tension between them, I decided not to voice this one. It was just as well. The next one I found was so much better.

"Bash." I read, and began to smile. "Ash paired with Bobby."

Lily laughed. "Should have seen it coming, really."

"Shut up." Ash's face darkened, and without a word, she pushed the lid of the laptop closed. "I don't want to hear anymore from these sick, _sick _fans. Let's go have a word with this Carver guy."

Sam shook his head. "Can't. I checked. No tax records, no known address. Looks like "Carver Edlund" is a pen name."

Standing up, Dean crossed the room towards us, but I noticed he strayed away from where Ash was, instead perching himself on the couch arm beside Sam. "Well, someone's got to know who this guy was. Let's try his publisher."

* * *

><p>I remained in the car while everyone headed into the publishing agency. I don't know why I didn't feel like going in, but it could have been because I was so engrossed with a certain volume from the Supernatural series. It included a background on the "hunting sisters", which, I guess, was Ash, Lily and I. It wasn't very good writing in my unproffesional opinion, and I didn't find it to be much of a page turner. That is, until I got to the "Mira" flash-back chapter, and every single memory I had pushed to the back of my head suddenly emerged again in ink before my eyes.<p>

_I had been twenty one years old when it happened, just barely peaking into the frightening truth of adult life. A timid but highly determined girl, I knew what I wanted to do, and how I was going to get there. The first step was University. That particular night, my lecture had ended early, and I decided rather than hanging around in the school library for a few years, like I usually did, I might as well go home and see my family ._

I swallowed tightly as I read, remembering the odd sensation that had come over me to go home. I continued.

_The drive wasn't long, but for some reason, I grew more and more anxious with each kilometre, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel and mumbling quietly to myself. The anxiousness gradually developed into extreme fear, wondering just why I felt the need to get home so quickly. I ran two red lights, went over the speed limit, and nearly tail-ended a car in a busy intersection. Something was up, and Idesperately wanted to get home to find out just what that was. _

_I immediately knew it couldn't be good when the front door of myhouse was ajar, open for the entire neighborhood to see inside. Lenora Williums was always lecturing me to keep the door closed, having been one for privacy and demanding just that. _

_Parking her car diagonally in the driveway, I rushed up the porch steps, and pushed my way through to the inside where I found my entire house had been ransacked. Papers from my father's office, just off the foyer, scattered along the hall, mirrors broken on the walls, and no sign of my parents. _

_"Mom?" I cried, racing between rooms only to find them all in the same shape as the foyer. "Dad?"_

_My search brought me upstairs, following a trail of broken china to the second floor. I could see that each door to the bedrooms were thrown open, and immediately ran to to the farthest room at the end of the hallway; my parent's. The night had grown dark, and I didn't have enough common sense ot flip on any lights as I charged into the bedroom, heart racing and eyes worriedly searching every corner. That was when I saw them, two bodies, crumpled in a bloodied heap against the queen size bed. _

_I didn't even go over to them, remaining by the door as I fell to my knees, unable to speak. It wasn't happening. It couldn't have been happening! I'd eft that very house a mere two hours before, getting the car keys from my father. and kissing my mother and baby sister good bye. How could something so awful occur just out of the blue?_

_Oh God... where was Jasmine?_

_Leaping to my feet, I hurried out of my parent's bedroom, and rounded the corner into my sister's. It was dark in there as well, but the crib was well illuminated from the moon coming in through the window, as well as the crimson sheets that were supposed to be yellow. I couldn't bring myself to go see what I knew would be there. Everything inside of me just seemed to crumble slowly as I stared, my vision going blury and knees growing weak. Eventually, I fell onto the ground, and began to sob._

I hadn't reached the end of the chapter yet, where the story of Lily, Ash and I meeting was, before the four of them had emerged from the comic book store. Closing the book, I straightened up, and watched as they filed back into the Impala, Dean turning the key in the ignition as soon as his door was closed.

"Did you get the address?" I asked, recieving a grunt and a brief nod in response.

On the way to "Chuck Shirley's" home, I held the book I'd been reading tight in my hands, my thumbs grazing the pages. It was hard not to open it again and read about my life from someone else's point of view, but at the same time, I knew it would be hard to read it as well. My chest was already pinched from the part about Jasmine, and my parents. I didn't need any more heart ache. Despite this, I couldn't put the book down, and that I knew the reason to; I didn't want anyone's pity, so no one else got to read it but me.

The house was not what I had been expecting. Maybe the guy wasn't a terribly succesful author, but from the sounds of things, (considering the underground cult mentioned at the comic store) I figured he would at least have a decent home. No such case. The windows bore long cracks in the glass, shingles nearly hanging off the roof, and as well, the house itself look terribly tiny. Making our way across the brown patch of grass that you couldn't really call a front yard, we approached the door.

Dean took the lead, of course, being the first to ring the bell.

We only waited for a moment before it opened, and a man stood before us in boxers, an undershirt, and a robe. He was much shorter in comparision to Sam and Dean, and definitely did not hold the same build as they did. He look tired, too, his eyes red and bags hanging like sad reminders of a horrible night's sleep beneath them. As he dragged a suspicous gaze around to each of our faces, he scratched at his scruffy beard, not speaking.

"You Chuck Shirley?" Dean asked.

Lily, who'd been hanging back with Ash and I, took the novel I still held and showed it to him. "You wrote Supernatural?"

"Maybe." his eyes narrowed not at the book, but at her. "Why?"

"I'm Dean." he pointed to himself, and then gestured to the rest of us. "That's Sam, Lily, and Mira." Well, almost the rest of us.

Ash's face fell into a pinched expression at his exclusion of her name. "And I'm Ash."

Chuck's suspicous glare was gone immediately, replaced with almost a tired, seen-this-all-before look that I was not expecting. "Yeah, I appreciate your enthusiasm, and it's nice hearing from the fans. But you should really, uh," he struggled to find the right word, before saying bluntly, "get a life." I was confused at first, wondering why he was casting us off so quickly, but then I thought of the man at the comic book store. So he thought we were LARPing as well. As Chuck moved to shut the door, Dean's hand shot out, and he caught it just before it could touch its frame.

"See," he pushed the door back open again so forecefull that Chuck stumbled backwards a few steps from the force. "We all have a life. You've been using them to write your books." Walking towards the man, Dean forced him a to back up into the depths of his house, the rest of us following without quite the intensity as Dean.

"Now wait a minute." Chuck's alarmed eyes searched each of our faces nervously. "Now, this isn't funny."

Dean advanced further. "Damn straight it's not funny."

"Look," Sam, the voice of reason, moved to stand in between Dean and Chuck. "We just want to know how you're doing it."

"I'm not doing anything."

"Are you a hunter?"

"What?" Now Chuck just looked plain confused. "I'm a writer."

"Then how do you know so much about demons?" I asked. "And Tulpas, and changelings?"

For a brief moment, Chuck continued to stare at us, his lips moving but no words coming out. and then, his eyes widened further. "Is this some kind of '_Misery_' thing? Ah," he turned around when no one answered, stumbling across his foyer. "It is, isn't it? It's a '_Misery_' thing!"

Lily grimmaced. "Believe me, we aren't fans. In no way is this like misery."

Although I wasn't entirely sure what _Misery _was, -although I remembered seeing Lily reading a book with that title a few years back- I nodded all the same.

"Well, then..." Chuck seemed at a loss. "What do you want?"

"My name is Mira." I decided to give Dean a break from preaching our case, and moved to stand beside Sam. "These are my friends Ash, Lily, Dean and Sam."

"You aren't real. Those are fictional characters, I made them up!"

"Do you want to see the goddamn evidence?" Dean pushed himself in front of Chuck again so he was the only person the man could see. "Because we've got out evidence with us!"

If I were in Chuck's position, being a nervous little person with five people crowding him, I wouldn't have gone with Dean. But it seemed this was important to him, and so pushing back his shoulders, he nodded, and walked out of the house as he followed Dean. It must have been the thought of being proven wrong that didn't appeal to him, and maybe he didn't like people who LARPed his characters, and just wanted us to go away. Whatever the reason, he continued down to the curb where the Impala was parked, and waited as Dean propped the trunk. After that, he just stared.

"Are those real guns?" He whispered, eyes set on the contents.

Dean nodded, "That's real rock salt, too, and real fake ID's."

I was slight uncomfortable with showing him everything, especially the fake badges, since if he ever decided not to believe us, the cops were only a phone call away. But this was all in the name of...well, our names. If this was what it took to make him realise who we were, then I guessed I was just going to have to trust Dean's methods.

"Well." Chuck fiddled with his robe sleeves for a moment, turning around to smile shakily at the rest of us, still standing inside his front door. "I've got to hand it to you all. You are really my number one fans." Still seeming nervous, he started back up the grass, eye brows furrowed. "That's awesome. So, I-I think I've got some posters in the house."

"Chuck," Dean pushed down the trunk top again, making him flinch. "Stop."

Backing himself up against the side of his house, Chuck cowered. "Please, don't hurt me."

I sighed, tired of this cat-and-mouse tactic, and moved aside so Chuck could come back into his house. "Let's talk about this."

* * *

><p>Chuck poured himself a glass of whiskey, and gulped it down before turning around to face the rest of us, standing in the middle of his living room. He groaned. "Oh, you're still there." Pressing the cool glass to his forehead, he continued to sit down on the grungy looking couch, sighing. "You're not a hallucination then. That's good. For a minute there I thought I was going crazy." I noticed his eyes dragging back to where the whiskey bottle still sat, but he didn't make a move for it.<p>

"Mr. Shirely." I perched myself on the couch opposite his, resisting the grimmace that pushed its way to my lips from the dirty upholstery. "We just want to know how _you _know all of this, and how much you know." He didn't look terribly excited to be interviewed, but I pushed on. "Do you know about the angels? Or about Lilith breaking the seal?"

His head snapped up, eyes staring incredulously at me. "How did you know that?"

"The question is how do _you _know that?" Lily sat down beside me, and raised an eye brow at him. "So, how do you?"

"I wrote it."

Sam frowned at him. "You kept writing?"

"Yeah." Chuck stared down at his empty glass, and then at the full bottle again, as if wishing both would just collide together for him. "Even after the publisher went backrupt, I kept writing. But those books never came out. Okay." He suddenly raised his eyes again, looking to Ash who lingered by the doorway. "This is some kind of joke, right? Did that...Did Phil put you up to this?"

Ash just scowled. "A joke? Do we look amused?"

"Well, then, there's only one logical explanation." Turning away from Ash, he faced the rest of us, his expression suddenly solemn. "I'm a god."

Sam groaned. "You're not a God."

"How else do you explain it? I write things and then they come to life." Chuck was not longer look at us, but past us, his eyes distant ."Yeah, no, I'm definitely a God. A cruel, cruel, capricious God. The things I put you guys through, the physical beatings alone!"

"Yeah." Dean muttered. "We're still in one piece."

He was already off though, speaking so quickly that I was having a hard time keeping up. "I killed your father! I burned your mother alive! And you!" he turned to Sam, who was staring at him with a look of disbelief. "You had to go through the whole horrific deal again with Jessica. Oh God!" Chuck looked down at his hands. "Ash, your family practically isolated you. Lily, you went through so much abuse. And Mira." His eyes had slowly risen again, and I stiffened, knowing what was coming next. "Mira, your parents, your sister..."

"Chuck-" Sam tried to reason with him.

"All for what? All for the sake of literary symmetry." Chuck was trembling. "I toyed with your lives, your emotions for...Entertainment." He looked horrified with himself.

"You didn't toy with us, Chuck, okay?" Lily was studiously ignoring Dean's questioning stare, probably having caught the 'abuse' part of Chuck's rant and was wanting an explanation. "You didn't create us." Despite her reassuring and forecful tone, he stared at us, shaking his head.

"Ash, did you really have to break your leg when you fought that Windigo three years ago?"

Her face contorted at the memory. "Yeah."

"And you guys." He looked to Sam and Dean. "Did you have to live through the ghost ship?"

"Yes." Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Listen, you're not a God."

Ash crossed the room, and squeezed herself into the spot between Lily and I. "We think you're just psychic."

"No." Chuck was quick to shoot with down with a dubious look. "If I wre psychic, do you think I'd be writing? Writing is hard."

"It seems that somehow, you're just... focused on our lives. Are you working on something right now?" Sam asked him.

"Holy Crap." Chuck's face went pale. "I...the next book got kind of weird."

"Weird how?" Lily asked.

"I wrote myself...meeting you all. I wrote myself into my story."

None of us spoke. Even Dean, who was usually the first to say something, remained quiet, his arms crossed tight over his chest and eyes focused on Chuck. After the brief pause, Ash spoke slowly. "So that happened, and you forgot all of it until now...how?"

Chuck threw his hands up in the air helplessly. "I don't know! It was more of a weird side project! But now..." his face was drawn. "Oh my God, you're all here, and you're real."

* * *

><p>In a nearby hotel, Ash, Lily and I relocated in our room while Dean and Sam took a trip to the laundromat. Although I'd grown wary of reading my own story, I found no problem in checking out the other books in the stories. I wasn't alone, either. Ash lounged on the couch, flipping through the television channels with a bored expression while Lily and I poured over, "Supernatural." It was so strange, written in different character's point of views, including our's. I couldn't imagine this Chuck person looking into my brain and writing what I thought. For the most part, though, he got it right. Actually, he got it <em>all <em>right. And that was nearly frightening.

Lily had her lips pursed while she read, but suddenly, she was giggling, and then hooting with laughter. "Oh my God, Ash!"

Immediately, she'd turned off the television and shot her a suspicious stare. "What?"

"Well," Lily smiled, and then cleared her throat, reading off the page she was on. "_'My heart leapt at the mere mention of his name, and when Dean nodded towards the corner of the room, it was ready to explode out of my chest. I turned my head slowly, and saw him._" She barely took a pause, even when Ash began to sputter incredulously. "_'As soon as those eyes hit me again, I was taken aback just from the calming sensation that ran through me like a jolt of electricity-'''_

Ash had stood up, and snatched the novel out of Lily's hands, stopping the shared reading.

By that point, I was in a fit of laughter as well, unable to contain it. "Care to argue _now _that you don't like him?"

"What makes you think Chuck has his facts straight?" She looked absolutely pissed, and closed the book, but not before sneaking a peak at it. I could have sworn her cheeks coloured.

"He's gotten everything else right!" Lily argued with a laugh. "Why should this be any different?"

Although the evidence was clear, Ash remained stubborn, and took possesion of the book, probably plotting to hide it somewhere later that night where no one would be able to find it. I looked down at my own novel, reading about Dean and Sam in their earlier hunts. After a moment, I shut it again, and sat back on my bed, tipping my head against the wall behind me. "It's so weird, isn't it? I mean, we're practically reading each other's minds here."

Lily nodded, although she was looking disturbed at the pages of the new book she'd grabbed. I couldn't see much of the title, although "Route" was visible. Route what?

"Something wrong?" I asked, and smiled slightly. "Another 'Cash' moment?"

"No, it's nothing." Tossing it aside, she looked at the alarm clock on the night stand between us, and gave a yawn. "We should be going to bed."

I looked at it as well, my eyes narrowed at the flashing numbers. "It's 10 o'clock."

"I can read." She actually pulled back the covers, and crawled into bed, still fully clothed. "Good night."

I looked at Ash who staring back at me just as confused, and when Lily shut off the lamp, enveloping the hotel room in darkness, I could only wonder just what it was she'd read. I vowed to grab that book the next morning to see, but until then, I supposed it was time to go to sleep. At ten o'clock.

* * *

><p>I'd actually forgotten about the book by the time morning came around. Bright and early, Sam and Dean were knocking on our door, hurrying us to the cars so we could go see Chuck again. It was a good thing we hurried, too, because as soon as we got there, we found Chuck pacing the length of his main floor, gripping onto a manuscript. He seemed like he was trying to build up the courage to tell us something.<p>

"So," Sam eyed him curiously. "You wrote another chapter?"

"It was so much easier before you guys were real."

Ash, looking annoyed with the wait, sighed loudly. "We can take it. Just spit it out."

Stopping his pacing, Chuck raised his face to ours, looking even more nervous than before as he thumbed the corners of his newly written manuscript. "You guys aren't going to like this."

I wasn't a naturally nervous person. Cautious, maybe, but certainly not nervous. Even still, with each passing moment that Chuck dragged out the revealing of this mysterious chapter, I felt myself getting more an more anxious, imagining the worst possible scenario. As he shifted his weight for the third time, Dean stepped forward again, looking impatient.

"I didn't like Hell. Tell us."

Glancing down at his papers, Chuck gave a nervous sigh, and then began to speak quickly, stammering over his words. "I...well, uh, Lilith is going to show up and..." He raised his face again, his eyes darting to Sam, who stood beside me expectantly. As soon as he looked to him, I felt my stomach drop. Oh God, what now? "_Lilith patted the bed seductively._" Chuck read, lowering his eyes back down to his papers. "_Unable to deny his desire, Sam succumbed, and they sank into the throes of fiery demonic passion."_

As soon as he finished reading, I felt sickened. First Ruby and now Lilith? What was it with Sam and demons? With Ruby, I'd felt let down, and defeated, like I'd lost a long, hard-fought battle. But now, I just felt pure anger. How could |Sam continue to toy with me like that? He must have known I liked him; I wasn't the most subtle person Besides, how many times had I fixed him up after he was broken, or comforted him when he was hurt? For God's sake, we were _married _for a couple of days! Did none of that break through that...that thick skull of his?

As Sam gave a disbelieving laugh, I crossed my arms angirly over my chest, glowered at him accusingly. "You think this is funny?"

"You don't?" He looked truly surprised at my reaction, and gave another mocking laugh before grabbing the papers from Chuck completely, staring at them incredulously. "I mean, come on! '_Fiery, demonic passion_'?"

Chuck looked embarrassed. "It's just a first draft."

"Wait, isn't Lilith a little girl?" Lily turned to Dean for confirmation, to which he grimmaced and tossed Sam a pitiful expression.

Ash gave a bark of laughter. "Jail-bait, much?"

"Well," Chuck consulted his pages, having taken them back from Sam. "This time, she is a 'Comely dental hygienist from Bloomington, Indiana'."

"Great. _Perfect_." Dean sighed. "So, what happens after the...'_fierfy, demonic_' whatever?"

"I don't know, it hasn't come to me."

I thought about the part he had read, about Sam and Lilith, and without looking at him, I stepped away from Sam."Chuck." I said, and his name came out quieter than I had hoped it was. He gave me a look, and I knew then that he knew how crushed I was. And for once, I had sympathy.

"Yeah?"

"How does your psychic...process work?"

"Well," he sighed, and then explained it as best as he could. "It usually starts with a headache. A really bad headache. Aspirin is useless, so... I drink. Until I fall asleep. The first time it happened, I thought it was just a crazy dream."

"The first time you dreamt about us?" Lily clarified, and he nodded.

"It flowed. It just...it kept flowing. Still does. I can't stop it, really."

I tuned out of the conversation at that point, staring angirly at the floor of Chuck's house. I wasn't even thinking about my own story now; that was pushed to the back of my mind. At that moment, all I focused on was the thought of Sam and Lilith, however she looked now, in bed together. My lips pulled down at the corners in a disgusted manor.

"Can we see those pages?" Dean was asking, and Chuck nodded, hanging them over.

Sam and Dean wasted no time, and were out the door almost instantly. I vaguely heard them discussing plans of a new town, but I couldn't be sure, and wasn't able to check with them before they were gone, leaving the rest of us alone with Chuck.

"Well," he stared after them with a tired expression. "I probably should have told them that the road is blocked off."

Ash groaned. "Is there any other roads out of here?"

"Nope. Looks like you're staying the night." turning on his heels, Chuck headed back over to his whiskey bottle, pouring himself a generous amount in a glass. As he drank it with a sour expression, Lily and Ash started for the door, but I felt myself rooted to the ground, unwilling to go back to the hotel. I was still feeling like utter crap, and maybe being around my questioning sisters (both of whom, I had no doubt, would be going on about Sam and Lilith) wasn't the best idea.

"You coming, Mira?" Lily asked, having stopped with her hand on the door knob, and noticed I wasn't following.

I looked at Chuck, who had finished his drink and was busy pouring himself another. Our gazes caught, and he shrugged his shoulders, indicating I was free to stay. Turning back to Lily and Ash, I shook my head. "Not yet, but I'll be there later."

Lily gave me a questioning stare, although she didn't push the subject of me staying. "Alright then. See you."

As she and Ash left, I sighed, sinking into one of Chuck's couches and pressed my palm to my forehead. So much to think about. A moment later, I felt the cushion beside mine sinking with sudden weight, the springs groaning, and then there was a cold glass being offered towards me. Chuck smiled, holding out his offering almost awkwardly. "Looks like you could use one."

"Thanks." I took it, and downed the entire thing without thinking. It burned, and I shuddered from the sensation, but I liked the tempature of the drink, and the promise of forgetting that came with it. Looking down at my empty glass, a few drops remaining in the bottom, I sighed. "You know what bothers me? All of these girls...he's been with so many girls and it's never me. I'd even go as far as to say he's never even thought of me while we were apart. It's like a strictly buisness relationship, if anything at all."

Chuck seemed unsure what to say, his eyes darting around the corners of the room uneasily.

"Oh God, I'm sorry." Finally realising what I'd done, I groaned, shaking my head. "I totally just dumped my problems on you. I'll leave, don't worry."

I was just getting ready to stand, too, when he spoke, his voice groggy from the drink in his hands. "It's okay Mi-" he paused and cleared hsi throat before continuing. "Mira. I mean... I know things have been hard with Ruby, but Sam isn't stupid." Chuck looked at me, and did his best to give me a reassuring smile, although he was still looking terribly awkward with his heart-to-heart. "Soon, he'll see that he's missing out on a great girl, and he'll dumb the demon bitch and, you know," he gave a flourish of his hand, directed towards me. "Be with you."

I was stunned into silence, having not expected to hear anything like this from him and especially not feel like what he'd said was sinking in. The pain in my chest had already begun to recede, a dull ache now, practically a memory. Turning my torso towards Chuck, I stared at his face, his sad, sad face, and started to see the beauty behind the mask; the way his eyes seemed to brighten when he noticed the sadden expression left my face, or the cautious smile that hadn't left since finishing his pep-talk. Maybe it was because Sam was bound to go do the dirty with Lilith, or maybe it was because I was feeling about as lonely as ever, and there was a man sitting in front of me, complimenting me. Whatever the reason, I felt myself being pulled toward him, leaning closer than I should have.

"You mean that?"

"Yeah." his smile widened slightly, although I noticed him eying the closing gap between us. "I do."

My hands found the sides of his face, feeling the warmth of his skin and the rough bits of stubble from his beard. What surprised me most was the fact that Chuck remained where he was, unmoved, watching me silently.

When I pulled his face towards mine, and kissed him, I felt like something inside of me had exploded. His lips were so soft, molding perfectly over top of mine that I sighed into it, and closed my eyes, basking in this moment for all that it was worth. I couldn't tell you whether or not Chuck returned that kiss, but he didn't move away, at least not immediately. After a moment of pure bliss, he gently took my hands, and moved from away from his face, leaning back as he did this. The kiss was broken.

"Uh..." He blinked rapidly, no longer looking at me but something behind me, seeming stunned. "You-"

"I should probably go." I said, and hopped to my feet, hurrying toward the door without looking back. I did _not _just kiss Chuck. This man I'd known for, what? Two days? So, this is what rock bottom feels like.

* * *

><p>It was late by the time I met up with Lily and Ash again, and once we were reunited, Ash suggested dinner in a tone that meant dinner was a must, and it was a suggestion that we accompanied her. I didn't know where Sam and Dean were, although I knew they hadn't left town because of Chuck's warning about the bridge. I'd figured they were staying in for the night, but when we arrived at the chosen diner, they were seated at a booth at the far back of the restaurant, and looked like they were waiting for us. Dean was still holding the manuscript he'd taken from Chuck, and judging from the severe look of confusion on his face, none of it was making sense. Or, he wasn't reading anything he particularly liked.<p>

"So," Lily said, as we walked over to where they sat. "Did Chuck tell you anything about what would happen over the next few days?"

I cast an innocent glance at a potted plant hanging from the ceiling, avoiding her gaze. "Uh, no, no he didn't."

"Then what were you guys doing?" Ash pressed against my side questioningly, but I just shrugged, not revealing anything.

At least, I thought I wasn't. Lily must have read something in my expression, because she suddenly stopped, half way to the booth, half way to the door, and turned to stare wide eyed at me. "Did you and Chuck-"

"We didn't do anything!" I was quick to respond, but my voice lifted at the end, probably selling me out. My eyes darted back over to the table as Ash and Lily scrutinized me with doubtful stares. Dean and Sam were both watching us, and I swallowed tightly, pushing my way past my sisters over to where they sat. As I slid in to the seat, I was aware of all eyes on me, but no one said anything, which I was thankful for. Even Ash, who I'd figured would be the first to blurt the assumption they'd made, remained quiet as she sat down beside me. She did, however, smile secretly to herself, and nudge my foot with her's once or twice. It wasn't bad enough that I was regretting kissing Chuck, but now that they knew, I was feeling like my chest was being crushed with the weight of sincere dread.

A waitress came by a moment later with a pot of coffee, filling all of our mugs beforeleaving again. I finally raised my eyes just in time to watch Ash take a drink of her coffee, and then spit it out onto the table. I jumped in alarm with everyone else, although Dean looked practically unmoved, rather than a confused curse given at her sudden spit take.

Ash clapped a hand over her mouth, and set her mug back down onto the table, glaring at it. "Dammit, that's hot."

"You okay, Ash?" I leaned towards her with a frown.

"I just snorted coffee out of my nose, and it burned like hell. How do you think I am? Anyway," she looked down at the spilled coffee, trying to seem nonchalant, I'm sure. "Cas is in town."

The entire table was quiet. Ash grabbed a napkin, took out the untensils that had been rolled inside of it, and began uselessly trying to mop up the mess she'd made, ignoring us. I spoke first. "How do you know that Cas is in town?"

"Just do." she said, giving up and tossing the soggy piece of cloth at the end of the table with a sigh.

I looked at Lily, who seemed just as confused, and then returned my attention to Ash. "Well, why would he be in town now? Do you think it has to do with Lillith?"

"It could be, right?" Sam, on the other side of the table, was shrugging his shoulders. "Unless it was for Chuck. Should we go see him?"

"Who?" I felt my neck turning red. "Chuck? Why do we have to go see Chuck? We don't have to bother him again, I mean-"

"No." Sam frowned at me. "Castiel."

"Oh. Well...what do you think, Ash?"

She picked up her mug, grimacing at the hot, brown ring of liquid it left behind on the table. "No, I'm starved."

Another curtain of silence fell over our table, and this time, the only sound was Dean turning the pages of the manuscript, still reading it. After a moment, Lily leant over towards him, squinting at it as well. "Have you figured out anything yet regarding that thing?"

"Sort of." Dean closed it with a sigh, and pressed his thumb and forefinger over the bridge of his nose. "If this is supposed to lead us to the path of Lillith, we should try and get off the path."

Lily frowned at him, although she seemed like she was following along, at least. "So...you mean if it says we go left-"

"We go right." I finished for her, and Dean nodded.

"Exactly. So, we're going to have to try and do the opposite of everything." As he spoke, he looked back down at the manuscript, and gave another sigh. "Well, starting now, I guess. Ash's spit take is right here, and so is the stuff about Cas. From now on, we've got to try extra hard not to let all of this stuff happen the way it's supposed to. The waitress should be coming over right about...now." He looked up suddenly, as did the rest of us, and the surprised girl look taken aback at the sudden stares set on her.

"Uh, are you all ready to order?" She asked, raising her eye brows as she took out a pad of paper from her arpon and a pen.

Dean smiled at her, and nodded. "I'll have a cheese-" he stopped, looking down at the manuscript, and then let his face fall into an annoyed expression. "A tofu burger. He'll have the cobb salad," he jabbed a thumb in Sam's direction, "and they'll have the mixed vegetable platter."

Immediately, Ash was sitting up. "Thanks but no thanks. We'll have a large, meat lover's pizza-"

"No, you won't." Now Dean was glowering at her, the first sign of interaction between them since the whole thing with Anna. "You're having the vegetable platter."

It looked like Ash was gearing up to argue this, but I gave her foot a hard kick underneath the table, and smiled at the waitress. "The vegetable platter sounds great thanks." she returned my smile with an expression that said we were all insane, and nodded vageuly before walking away. As soon as she was gone, Ash turned on me with a glower.

"What the hell was that, Mira?"

"Did you not hear Dean? We have to do the opposite. I'm sure that manuscript said we would order the pizza. Right?" I turned to Dean for confirmation, who nodded. "See?"

Ash still didn't seem entirely happy, and looked down at her empty coffee mug with a scowl. "Whatever."

I picked a tear in the table cloth for a moment before sitting back and sighing. "This whole thing is ridiculous."

Dean frowned. "Lilith is ridiculous?"

"The idea of me hooking up with her is." Sam chipped in with a disgusted expression.

"Right, because something like that can never happen."

A muscle in Sam's jaw jumped, but he managed to control himself. "Dean, for the first time we have warning that Lilith is close."

"So?"

"_So_," Sam gave him a sharp look. "We've got the jump on her."

Lily seemed to be following his train of thought, and nodded, agreeing with him. "He's right. This is a great oppertunity."

I could see Dean's head turning slightly at the sound of her input, or maybe it was more the fact that she was taking Sam's side on this. He'd opened his mouth, too, ready to retort when the waitress suddenly returned, balancing our orders in her hands and a plate on her forearm. "Cobb salad for you," she set it down in front of Sam, "tofu veggie burger for you," she gave this one to Dean, and then turned towards where Ash, Lily and I sat, handing off the larger plate. "And a veggie platter for you girls." She walked away again, and as she left, Dean picked up his burger, and took a bite of it, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Oh my God, this is delicious! Tofu is amazing!" To show his appreciation, he took another generous bite, his eyes closing slightly and a smile spreading across his lips.

A moment later, as the rest of us picked at our meals, the waitress approached our table again, looking flustered. She immediately reached for Dean's plate. "I am so sorry! I gave you the bacon cheeseburger by mistake!" Dean's face fell flat as she hurried away with it. I think we were all sharing the same, shocked sentiments. Was there really no avoiding the outcome of this book, and more importantly, was there no avoiding the ending with Lilith?

**A/N: before you say it, yes. It HAS been awhile since we've updated. BUT HERE IS CHAPTER 31 and 32 is coming probably a little bit later today! Happy reading, fanfiction type people!**


	32. Thirty Two Mira

32. Mira

I really didn't like the look of the hotel Dean lead us to. It was obviously a sleezy establishment, and although we didn't usually stay at the Ritz, we were good to avoid places like that. I got out of the van with Lily and Ash, grimmacing up at the flickering neon sign that looked like it was getting of tired of standing. Glancing back a tour van parked precariously underneath it, I thought about moving it just incase that sign gave up and fell over. But I knew there was no time.

"Dude, this place charges by the hour." Sam commented as we walked into the room, his eyes wandered the cracked ceiling.

Dean walked past him and dropped the duffel bag he'd been carrying onto the single bed. I half expected it to groan and collapse under the sudden weight, but it surprisingly remained standing. "The book says you stay at the RED hotel. It's opposite day, remember Sam? I don't think the, uh, hooker inn will be visited by Lilith anytime soon. But, just in case..." he reached inside and pulled small string tied bags, showing them to the rest of us with a sly smile. "Hex bags ought to Lilith-proof the room."

I walked over to the couch that sat in front of a broken television set, and eyed the mysterious stains on the fabric before deciding against sitting, and just leaning against the room wall instead. The idea was for Sam to stay in the room all night without leaving, and for us to stay as well. Dean had decided that if Lilith popped in, it might be awkward for them to, well, have sex if we were there, too. Personally, I wasn't too high up on the idea, especially since as time went by, I was getting less hurt by Sam and his monster wooing ways and more angered. It got so bad that as Dean walked around the room, hiding hex bags, I felt my rash move with Chuck wasn't all that rash anymore. Sam could go have sex with demons all he wanted. Me kissing Chuck wasn't nearly anything in comparison.

"What are _you _going to do?" Sam asked, when Dean was finished and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, observing his work.

"Well," he shrugged his shoulders. "The book says I drive around all day in the Impala, so I'm going to go park her. Lily," she looked up at the mention of her name, having been examining one of the hex bags placed behind the door to make sure the draw string was tight enough. "Feel like coming with me?"

She smiled, and then nodded, running a hand through her hair shyly. "Sure."

"Great. Let's go." He cast Sam a warning look before he and Lily departed, leaving the rest of us alone in the hotel room, completely silent.

Ash gave a loud sigh, and then sat down cross legged in front of the television, snatching up the remote from the grungy couh as she did so. It took a few tries to get the thing to actually turn on, and when it did, the screen was black and white and fuzzy in the corners. All the same, Ash began flipping through the four channels until she found something worth watching. From my stance at the other side of the room, I could just barely make out the face of Doctor Who, and smiled to myself before my face fell into a grimace. Not only was the silence becoming far more aparent, but I could also feel his gaze on me out of the corner of my eye. After a moment of ignoring him, I turned my face so our eyes met. It was a staring contest that lasted only a few seconds before the both of us looked away again, no words spoken.

I looked down at my fingernails, or at least what was left of them thanks to my notorious habit of chewing them down to nothing. God, this was so boring. The only sounds in the room was the low volume of Ash's show, and then Sam's cell phone as he fumbled with it, probably scrolling through contacts, old pictures, texts; anything to keep himself busy. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I glanced at the digital clock beside the bed, and found that it was stuck on 2:40am, the red numbers blinking like annoying strobe lights. The room smelled, it was uncomfortably hot, and my legs were getting stiff from leaning against the wall. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Do you want to go out for a bit?" I asked Ash, turning to her with a helpless look. I needed something, _anything _to do that got me out of that room.

She turned her head to look at me, frowning. "Aren't we supposed to baby sit Sam?"

There was a disgusted grunt from him, which we both ignored.

"There's a vending machine outside." When this didn't seem to sway her, I sighed. "I'll pay."

Suddenly, Ash was flipping off the television and standing, following me out of the hotel room with a grin and not so much as a look towards Sam. He watched us leave with narrowed eyes, but I wouldn't say anything to him, and closed the door on his face almost before I was outside. As soon as there was something between us, I exhaled loudly, and rubbed at my forehead tiredly.

"So," Ash said, as we walked along the sidewalk, making our way to the machine at the far end of the parking lot. "You're pretty pissed about Sam and Lilith, huh?"

I looked up at her. "How did you-"

"Dude, I may suck at reading emotions, but the tension between you guys is like, really obvious." she tipped her head back and looked up at the sky, almost as if she was contemplating saying something. I waited for her to decide, but then she just stared straight ahead again, silent.

"It's nothing new, really." I sighed. "First there was that werewolf chick I read about in one of Chuck's books, and then Ruby, and now Lilith, apparently."

"Werewolf chick?"

"Don't ask. " I shoved my hands inside of my jacket pockets, and grimaced. "He's just got something for monsters, I guess."

Ash stared at for a moment. "So...is that why you had revenge sex with Chuck?"

Immediately, I stopped walking and turned to stare at her angirly, my cheeks flushed. "I did _not _have sex with Chuck! I just...kissed him okay?"

She'd stopped walking as well, as leaned back against of a room beside us, grinning triumphantly. "Ah, so you guys kissed. Lily thought so, but I gave you some credit and said you probbaly slept together. I guess I owe her a dollar." As I rolled my eyes, she reached out, and touched my shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "I really don't know what to tell you, Mira. All I can say is that Sam is perverted and seems to have a thing for what he hunts. Hey, I don't judge. But you're getting hurt by this guy and that's not cool. I like Sam but we're sisters, right?" She smiled, and I couldn't help smile back. "He won't be around forever but we'll always stick together."

"Thanks, Ash." After a moment, we continued towards the vending machine. "So, you really thought I would sleep with Chuck?"

She laughed. "Well, I mean, he's not _my _type but you could always be into that "hobo" thing he's got going on."

"Please, your history of guys aren't exactly all Prince Charming either."

"Yeah but there's always more coming." She knocked my shoulder with hers, and then winked. "I got men lined up at my feet."

We were both laughing, and I was in a much better mood as we got our drinks and headed back to the hotel room. That is, until we opened the door to reveal that Sam had company. Chuck stood in the middel of the room, wringign his hands together nervously as he spoke in a quicked tone, his words mixing together into unrecognizable blurbs. He must have heard our key in the lock, because as soon as the door was open, he took a step back, and looked between us and Sam nervousl.y

"Okay, so this awkward." Ash said, although she looked amused with the whole situation, watching it with a smile.

Chuck swallowed, loud enough for all to hear, and I knew he was staring at me despite my eyes being lowered to the ground, avoiding doing the same. "Hey Chuck."

"Hey." I heard his foot steps across the floor, and he was suddenly beside us, his hand on the door knob. "I was, uh, just leaving."

Ash looked at him. "Got a working television at your place?"

"Uh, yes...?"

"I'm going with him." She announced, grabbing for her coat off the bed where she had abandoned it when we arrived. "You coming, Mira?"

I knew I should have stayed with Sam because we were supposed to keep an eye on him, but the idea of it just being him and I alone in the room made me nervous. Nodding quickly, I followed Chuck and Ash out of the room, hoping this was the best descision I could have made rather than the worst.

* * *

><p>Chuck's house was in the same state it had been every other time we visited, although now when I walked through the door, I didn't feel like I was walking into someone else's home. I'd been there enough times that I knew which part of the couch sunk and which was too stiff for sitting. I knew where Chuck liked to keep his whiskey, his emergency whiskey, and his "just because" whiskey that I was getting used to seeing a lot. It wasn't hard to learn this, since despite my few visits, I'd seen the bottles on multiple occasions. Maybe I should have felt different, especially since the last time I had been there, I'd done something completely out of character. But I couldn't help it. Something about Chuck's place was just so homey. Or, maybe it was the fact that Sam wasn't there. That could have been it, too.<p>

"Oh look, more manuscripts." Ash sat at Chuck's writing table and began flipping through random pages that were scattered on the top, her lips mouthing what she read every so often. After a moment of doing this, she dropped them back in their usual messy pile, and sat back in the chair, exhaling slowly. "You know Chuck, you're not that bad of a writer. It's all cheese, but not bad."

"Cheese." He repeated, stopping in the middle of pouring himself a drink to frown at her. "You think my writing is cheesy?"

She blinked. "You don't? I mean, does any of this stuff even register while you're writing it?"

He had his glass tipped back at his lips, and turned away from her, his eyes squeezed shut. I wondered if he was growing wary of our company, and then I remembered that we weren't exactly guests. I'd be pretty stressed if I had people who I once thought were nonexistant, a part of my imagination, staying at my house and having conversations with me. Me kissing him probably didn't help that situation at all, either. Well, what's done is done.

I'd only just began to wander over to Chuck's couch when the door flew open, startling me backwards a few steps as Dean charged inside, Lily following close behind. Despite my initial shock, as well as the surprised yelp I heard from Ash, it seemed that Chuck was not the least bit fazed by the sudden intrusion. In fact, he only poured himself another drink, topping off his glass, and swallowed it entirely, avoiding Dean's furious expression.

"Dean. Lily." He greeted them formally, although there was a tired tone to his voice.

"I take it you knew we'd be here."

As Dean faced down Chuck, Lily stumbled over to where I stood, and collapsed onto the couch, looking absolutely worn out. I sank down beside her, noticing a few purple bruises forming on her face. "What happened?" I touched my hand to them, and she cringed away, sighing.

"We got hit by a mini van, doctored by a 4 year old" she paused to motion to a band-aid on her face, "and then we had to put a black tarp in the back window of the Impala."

Her words sounded familiar, and it only took me a moment to realize where I'd heard them. One of the things Dean had said sounded so impossible to happen from the manuscript was that he and Lily were wearing matching pink flowered pandaids on their faces after being in an accident involving a mini van. Because of the accident, Dean had to put a tarp in his back window that "flapped liked the wings of a crow". I winced, and looked a ther again. "Wasn't there something about seeing stars?"

"The driver of the mini van had on star earrings." Lily sighed and reached up, pulling one of the floral band-aids off her cheek with a grimace. "It all came true, Mira. Everything."

In the background, I coud hear Dean becoming more and more agitated with Chuck who obviously was not giving him the answers that he was looking for. As I twisted my torso to look at them. Dean grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, and shoved Chuck up aaginst the wall. "Tell me how you're doing this!" he demanded gruffly, giving Chuck a rough shake. "Tell me!"

"Dean. Let him go." My head snapped to the right at the sudden sound of a third party, Castiel having appeared in the middle of the room with his eyes narrowed at the fight occuring. "This man is to be protected."

Ash was still thumbing through the manuscripts in front of her, evidently not caring about what was going on. She turned a page casually. "Oh, guess Cas is here now."

Dean ignored her, staring angirly at Casitel. "Why should I let him go?"

"He is a prophet of the Lord."

Slowly, Dean's hold on Chuck loosened, and then he was back on his feet, standing wide eyed at Cas as he walked towards him.

"It's an honor to meet you, Chuck. I admire your work."

Stopping beside Ash, he reached down and picked up one of Chuck's manuscripts, paging through it with his eye brows knitted together. Lily frowned, and then stood, pointing to Chuck. "Wait, so he's a prophet?"

"Yes." Castiel put down the manuscript with a sigh. "He should have known himself by now."

All heads seem to turn back to Chuck, who had made his way over his armchair and was busy opening a fresh bottle of whiskey from his "emergency" stash. Slowly, he raised his eyes, and I could see how nervous they were, darting from each of our faces to the next. He shrank away from the spotlight he was suddenly put under. After a moment, he sighed, and spoke quietly. "I..._may _have dreamt about it."

Ash leaned towards him, her eyes narrowed. "And you didn't tell us?"

"Well, it was preposterous!" Chuck was quick to defend himself, although he looked embarrassed with what he was saying. "Not to mention arrogant. I mean, writing yourself into a story is one thing, but as a Prophet? That's like _M Night_ douchiness." he brought his glass to his lips and took a long drink, leaning back in his chair with a tired expression.

Dean stared at him for a moment and then turned to Cas with an incredulous expression. "So this guy, _this _guy, decides our fates?"

"He isn't deciding anything. He is a mouth piece; a conduit for inspired words."

"Like a New Testament?" I asked quietly, and Cas looked at me before noding.

"One day, these books...they'll be known as the Winchester gospel."

"You've got to be kidding me." Dean and Chuck spoke in unison.

On the other side of the room, Ash let out a bark of laughter, and I turned to see her doubled over in her chair, grinning. "Really? So, will the chapters about Dean and Lily making out behind Bobby's place be included, or is there going to be a companion book released with all the little, behind-the-scenes secrets?" Again she laughed, seeming unfazed by the harsh glare she'd recieved from Dean.

"I've...I've got to..." Chuck suddenly stood, fumbling with his hands and looking around wildly. "If you'd excuse me for a minute."

I could have stayed and listen to Ash's laughter, or watch Dean posisbly argue with her, or have Lily bust into flames by the heat of her blush, but I didn't want to. Standing up, I followed Chuck into the other room as he leant over the kitchen sink, his shoulders hunched and arms spread wide to keep himself balanced. He was breathing deeply, shakily, and then took a long drink from his glass, finishing it off with a disappointed scowl at it's sudden emptiness.

"You alright?" I asked quietly, and he spun around to face me.

"Oh, Mira. Hi... no kidding." he gave me a shaky smile. "But I guess I already kind of knew, in a way. Just never thought it would actually happen."

I nodded, and then reached out, taking the empty glass from his hands and setting it down on the counter behind him. "You should really lay off the drinking, Chuck. It can give you headaches."

"I don't doubt it. Kind of gives you more problems than it solves."

"A lot of things do." I said, and then looked down for a moment. It was so true. Drinking, kissing random strangers to _somehow _get back at the man who broke your heart...there really is no solving problems in the world. You just conquer them.

There was the sound of the kitchen door opening, and then Dean was standing before us, his face set into a hard expression and eyes darting between me and Chuck, finally resting on just Chuck who frowned. "Are you going to try and stop Sam?" he asked quietly, and Dean nodded. "You know that's not a good idea. Sam can handle himself, and-" Before Chuck could finish, Dean inteupted him, drawing himself up to his full height to look as intimidating as possible.

"Listen up, Jeremiah. I am going to go get Sam and then we're all getting out of this grungy little town, you got that? Screw you and your destiny."

No one had time to stop him, though I doubt anyone was about to dare and try. Turning on his heels, Dean stalked out of the kitchen and through the living room, the front door slamming behind him as he left. For a moment, we all remained where we were, the house dead silent and everyone in it as well. And then, I carefully walked back out to where Lily and Ash were sitting, dumbfounded, hearing Chuck following me close behind.

"Well?" Lily looked up at me with a helpless expression. "What do we do now?"

"Rambo over there took the only car." Ash chipped in, jabbing a finger in the direction of the front door, indicating Dean.

I sighed, realizing that they were right. Chuck didn't have a car, and our van was still parked back at the motel where we had left it. "There's nothing we can do but wait for Dean to either cool off and come back, or get Sam and come back. Either way," I lowered myself onto Chuck's writing table chair, and crossed my legs with a shrug. "We're stuck here."

There was a loud, dramatic sigh from Ash, who slumped onto the couch and glowered at the door. "Stupid idiot." she muttered.

We both noticed Castiel at the same time, hovvering over in the corner with a confused expression. I'd forgotten he was there with us, and he must have been the reason Dean and stormed out of the house. Ash sat up, and cleared her throat so that his attention was drawn t her. "Hey." she said, and then patted the empty couch cushion beside her. "You want to sit down?" It looked like he was considering it too, his eyes remaining on the cushion with a hard, almost curious expression. And then, he stepped back and shook his head.

Ash's face fell, but she composed herself quickly and turned to Chuck. "I don't suppose you have any bright ideas about what we do?"

"No. I didn't see this and I don't know what's going to happen." He sighed, and touched a hand to his forehead, rubbing at it tiredly. "I hate it when I know, and now that I don't, I hate it even more."

"Bummer." Ash didn't look the least bit sympathetic. "I bet it really sucks knowing the future."

I could see a flash of annoyance in Chuck's eyes, but he said nothing, turning around and walking back into the kitchen again. As soon as he was gone, something in Castiel's face changed. He didn't even explain what was wrong before he too disappeared, vanishing into thin air. I figured maybe we would have a long period of silence, waiting for Dean to return with Sam, and Lily looked like she was ready for this as well, lounging across the floor of Chuck's house and covering her face with her arm sleepily. But evidently, Ash was in the mood to vent.

"I don't think you guys know how stupid this whole thing between me and Dean is." she sat back against the couch with an angry expression, crossing her arms over her chest. "I mean, I know you two forgave me for what I did to Anna, and that's great because I love you guys. But I need some guys in my life too, you know? I get along better with guys and now that I don't have any male friends, I'm getting pissed. Dean hates me, Cas won't even sit next to me..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "It's not like I want a boyfriend or anything stupid like that. You know?"

"Yeah." I said, even though I was hardly listening, focusing instead on the road outside to see if I could hear the Impala returning. Nope, just another car.

"I don't even know how Dean can stay mad at me for so long." Ash continued. "The Anna thing is done, over with, and he should move on. Do you think he has a grudge problem or it's just me?"

This time, it was Lily's turn to answer. I thought she'd fallen asleep but then she murmured, "'dunno'" from beneath her arm.

Ash sighed. "Well, whatever it is, it's stupid. And then Cas-"

"Oh my God, would you please just shut up?"

I didn't notice Chuck had returned from the kitchen, holding the glass of alcohol I'd taken from him and glaring angirly at Ash. She sat up slowly, staring at him with a shocked expression. I was waiting for the angered retalliation, because no one ever told Ash to shut up, at least not that I remembered. But she just stared, unable to believe this had happened. Even Lily as tired as she was, had sat up as well and was watching the scene unfold, her eyes wide. After a long pause during which I held my breath, Ash turned and layed out on the length of the couch with her back to us, sulking in silence.

I was on my feet to go talk to her when the door to Chuck's house opened and Dean entered, looking angier than before. He was also, I noticed, alone.

"Where's Sam?" I asked.

He turned to look at me, setting his dark glower on me as if whatever happened was my fault. "He's not leaving the goddamn motel!"

I shrank away and looked down at my feet anxiously. "Well okay then."

Dean crossed the room and grabbed for Chuck, pushing him towards the door aggresively. "Hey what do you think you're doing?" Chuck demanded, although each attempt he made to get away was overturned my Dean, giving him a harder push than before.

"I need you to come with me."

"Where?"

"The hotel."

Chuck reached out and pressed both of his hands on the wall, stopping any further forced movements. "Wait, that's where Lilith is!"

"Yeah." Dean drew back with a glower. "I need you to stop her."

"Are you insane? Lilith? I know what she's capable of, Dean! I...I wrote her!"

There was a snort from the couch. Ash, who'd remained quiet since Chuck's little outburst on her, was sitting upright, watching this with an amused expression. "Plus, there isn't a hope in hell that guy is going to stop Lilith."

"Listen to her!" Chuck nodded wildly. "She's right!"

"No, you listen to me!" Dean, obviously done with the games, pointed angirly at him. "You have an archangel tethered to you, okay? All you got to do is show up and boom! Lilith gets smoked."

Lily frowned. "Who told you he has an archangel?"

"Castiel." Dean looked to her, his expression softening significantly. "It's job is to protect Chuck at any mean's nessisary."

Despite this, Chuck still looked terrified. "But I...I haven't seen that yet! Th-the story-"

"Chuck." There was something in Dean's voice that made him stop his trembles and listen. "You're... you're the only shot I've got left."

"But I'm just a writer."

"This isn't a story anymore, man. This is real, and you're in it. So get off your ass and fight."

"No friggen way."

I, along with everyone else in the room, was getting tired of Chuck's anxiety. There was a time and place for everything, and this definitely was not the time. Lily and Ash sighed, and I was ready to go and talk him into it, but Dean but us all to it.

"Okay well then how about this." He touched a hand to the lower part of his jacket, eyes narrowed. "I've got a gun in my pocket, and if you don't come with me, I'll blow your brains out."

Chuck's eyes widened. "I thought you said I was protected by an archangel."

"Well, interesting excersie." Dean leaned forward threatingly, hand still where his gun was. "Let's see who the quicker draw is."

It was no surprise when Chuck finally agreed to go.

* * *

><p>I noticed the motel sign as we pulled up in the Impala. Most of the neon letters had burned out, and now it read, "RED MOTEL". Just like the book said. I sighed, and then returned my attention to the task at hand. It took a lot to calm down Chuck enough so he'd go into the room first and even then he wouldn't open the door until Dean, Lily, Ash and I were standing right behind him, guns loaded and ready to go in after him. I had to admit, I was feeling pretty anxious about the whole thing. Not only was I worried about the fact that guns had no use on Lilith, but just what we would be walking in on. Well, here goes nothing. I gave Chuck a light push who stumbled forward, and tehn threw open the door, walking in more confidently than I had expected.<p>

"I am the prophet Chuck!" He proclaimed shakily.

"You've got the be joking."

The sound of bed springs shifting made Dean's face harden, and he barged into the room, the three of us following in close behind. The first thing I saw was Chuck, and a woman standing before him with a incredulous expression. Looking past them, I saw Sam sprawled out on the bed, fully clothed (thank God) and holding Ruby's knife posed in the air. So he'd been trying to kill her.

"This is no joke." Dean was saying as the room began trembling, sort of like an earth quake might have made it, and a great white light poured in through the windows despite the fact that it was dark outside. ''See, Chuck here's got an archangel on his shoulder. You've got about 10 seconds before this room is full of wrath and you're a piece of charcoal. You sure you want to tangle with that?''

Lilith glared at him, and then turned to look at Sam over her shoulder. A moment later, her head snapped backwards, and the mouth of her vessel was forced open as she slwoly poured out of it. As soon as she was gone, the commotion in the room stopped.

Ash was the first to speak. "Holy shit, that was awesome."

"Yeah, it was." Chuck looked around with an awed expression, seeming to be enjoying the archangel's protection. "I've got my own body guard."

* * *

><p>The next morning, Dean and Sam were at our room bright and early, telling us it was time to go. I knew Ash and Lily were both pretty excited to get out of the crummy motel, but I wasn't ready to go just yet. First, I had to say good-bye to Chuck, who'd arrived in the parking lot as we packed up our van. I saw him, he saw me, and gave an awkward wave. As I approached him, he smiled.<p>

"I guess this is good-bye, huh?"

"Doubt it." I held up one of his books that I'd decided to keep, a nice one about me, Lily and Ash's first hunt together. "I am one of the main character in your book series, after all."

Chuck laughed good heartedly, and then he sobered, looking down at his shoes. "I know why you kissed me."

"You do?"

"Yeah." He cleared his throat awkwardly, and raised his eyes to mine. "You were upset about Sam, and I get it. No...no hard feelings, okay?"

"Hey!" I turned around to see Ash waving at me from the front seat of the van, looking impression. "You want to hurry that up, Mira?"

Smiling, I looked back at Chuck, and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "See you around. And...thanks."

"No problem, Mira."


End file.
